Airport protestors target Ruth Kelly's home (From This Is Local London)
Contact your local news team     Â
Airport protestors target Ruth Kelly's home
1:59pm Thursday 3rd July 2008 in Where I Live By Dan Menhinnitt
Anti-expansion: Flash mob protestors disrupted the opening of T5
Airport expansion protestors say they were chased away from Ruth Kelly's home after blaring aeroplane noise through her letterbox.
A flash mob from group Plane Stupid played the aeroplane noise at 56 decibels - the level deemed by the Department for Transport (DfT) not to be a nuisance to west Londoners - at 7.30am at the Transport Secretary's Docklands address.
After 15 minutes the six women protesters were chased away by Mrs Kelly's husband.
Other members of the group targeted Mrs Kelly's constituency home in Bolton.
A spokeswoman for London's Plane Stupid group, Elizabeth Baines, said: "It's incredible. Tucked away in her post London flat I can see now why it is so easy for Ruth to ignore the concerns of West London - the expansion of Heathrow won't threaten her quality of life."
She added: "London does not want more noise and air pollution. A decision in favour of BAA would be reckless cowardice - the UK can help beat climate change but not by doubling the capacity of the world's busiest airport."
“It’s incredible. Tucked away in her post London flat I can see now why it is so easy for Ruth to ignore the concerns of West London – the expansion of Heathrow won’t threaten her quality of life.”
Elizabeth Baines
In a separate demonstration a flash mob of between 50 and 100 protestors from anti-expansion group, The Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (Hacan), threw paper planes bearing a message and Mrs Kelly's face at the DfT's Westminster headquarters.
Demonstrators clad in red t-shirts were told by police sergeant Paul McIntyre that the event had not been organised in accordance with the requirements of legislation covering protests in central London.
He gave demonstrators 10 minutes to disperse - enough time to complete the paper plane throwing.
Among those who attended the demonstration was Lib Dem Twickenham MP Vince Cable who criticised police for trying to disperse the protestors.
Hacan's John Stewart said he was very pleased with the demonstration and hoped it showed the strength of feeling against Heathrow's expansion.
A spokesman for the Department of Transport said they would not comment on the protest outside Ruth Kelly's homes, but pointed out that a consultation exercise had been carried out on Heathrow expansion and those views would be taken into account ahead of any decision.
