Bus driver seen pushing Just Stop Oil protester blocking road

A bus driver was seen apparently pushing a Just Stop Oil protester out of the way during a slow march protest in London.

The man, who was dressed in black and had a hood up, was seen throwing one of the protesters out of the way in Holborn on Thursday.

The incident came on the same day four demonstrators walked in front of traffic near Hyde Park, central London, stopping the England players reaching Lords where they were due to play a Test against Ireland.

The protesters seemed unaware they were stopping the England team bus, until wicket keeper, Jonny Bairstow, posted a picture on Instagram showing demonstrators and police in front of their coach.

The England and Yorkshire batsman added in a caption: “If we’re a bit late it’s not our fault.”

In response, the protest group posted a video of the disruption on Twitter and joked climate change was “our biggest test”.

A spokesman wrote: “Just Stop Oil supporters march In Kensington and Battersea. And apparently that’s the England cricket team bus.

“They might know a bit about a batting collapse, but the climate crisis is no one-day international - it’s our biggest test.”

The bus was only delayed for around 15 minutes and the team arrived at Lords in time for the one-off test against Ireland.

Police arrived at the scene within minutes and put a Public Order Act notice on the marchers, ending the demo at around 8.45am.

A Just Stop Oil spokesman later made another cricket reference, adding: “No-one is safe from climate collapse, it will destroy everything we care about.

“All we will have left is ashes. Oil and gas has had a good innings, but it’s time to declare - Just Stop Oil.”

Around half-an-hour earlier some 50 Just Stop Oil demonstrators in groups of five, began blocking traffic by slowly marching on roads around Hyde Park and Battersea Park.

A spokesman for the Met said: “We completely understand the frustration of Londoners where Just Stop Oil slow march protests are impacting their ability to go about their day-to-day business and causing disruption.

“However, people should not intervene or take actions that might cause danger to others or commit offences themselves. Please let police deal with the situation.”

A TfL spokesman said: “We are looking into this incident. We take any allegations seriously and do not tolerate any violence, aggression or threatening behaviour whether this be towards our staff or members of the public.”