I quit my job as an easyJet pilot to become a Just Stop Oil protester

A former easyJet pilot has left his job to join environmental protest group Just Stop Oil.

George Hibberd, 29, qualified as a pilot in 2019, but just four years on has quit.

Just Stop Oil has been hitting the headlines regularly for various protests - including recently at the Chelsea Flower Show when activists threw paint of the displays.

Previously, members have blocked motorways and protested at oil terminals.

Hibberd, who was recently arrested for taking part in a protest in London, said the change was about 'aligning his values'.

"My colleagues and I were flying over wildfires every summer," he said.

"I would say the majority of people [in the airline industry] are concerned about the climate crisis."

He said he felt mixed emotions about the decision to quit his dream career, saying: "I have wanted to be a pilot for as long as I can remember. It was one of grief over what I’d lost and what we are losing to the climate crisis.

"Then there’s also somewhat relief that I have got my actions aligned with what I believe and I feel I am on the right side of history."

He said protests by Just Stop Oil were a last resort because "non-disruptive stuff" hadn't worked.

"There’s no such thing as ‘our cause’, it’s everyone’s cause," he added. "This isn’t the first step and this isn’t the first thing that people have tried.

"They have done the non-disruptive stuff and it simply doesn’t work – we are at the eleventh hour.

"We have to look back at history and what people did. [The Suffragettes] were the most hated people of their time but we now look back at them as heroes.

"None of us want to get to that situation but what choice do we have?"

Just Stop Oil: What do they want

Just Stop Oil describes itself as a "nonviolent civil resistance group demanding the UK Government stop licensing all new oil, gas and coal projects".

Its website says it is a "coalition of groups" working to ensure the government commits to ending all new licenses and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK.

The group was reportedly founded by people who had been involved in similar groups Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain.

Over the past few years its activities have included pitch invasions, block motorways, and throwing soup at a Van Gogh painting at the National Gallery.

Watch: Just Stop Oil protestors throw paint over Chelsea Flower Show display