Anti-fracking protesters glue themselves to wrong petrol station

Anti-fracking protesters in Bolton were left red-faced after gluing themselves to gas pumps at the wrong petrol station.

Bolton against Fracking organised a protest at their local Total garage after it was reported that the oil company were due to invest at least £12.7 million in the UK fracking industry.

However it wasn't Total that actually owned the station, but Certas Energy. The station simply hadn’t got around to switching the signs.

Tristan Woodward, who attended the protest, told The Independent: “I would do it again. It was still worth it. It may have been the wrong station but it highlighted the issue of fracking.”

Protesters were at the petrol station for about an hour and a half before police removed them from the pumps. Around 20 demonstrators attended in all and four people were arrested.

Petrol station manager Reezwan Patel told the Bolton News: “We had to close for six hours, so with the loss of custom and the damage to the pumps, it could be a couple of thousand pounds we have lost.

“The thing is, Total don’t own the station any more. It is owned by Certas Energy, but the signs haven’t changed yet.

“The peaceful protesters were very polite and actually apologised for what happened, but the others were very stupid and have cost us a lot of money.”

Mr Woodward said they will do more checking in future. He said he will continue to protest against fracking because extracting shale gas from the ground may contaminate water supplies and is not adequately regulated.