This part of the team are very close-knit, they are all ex- military, with no exception, again they receive the same training as the Ground Enforcement Officers, with one exception - they are all Confined Space Trained.

One of the delaying tactics that the Protestors have used extensively over the years, is the use of underground tunnels, but not a tunnel as you would think of a tunnel. Here are some photographs to give you an idea. The photograph below is an entrance to a horizontal tunnel, as you can see the circumference is not that much wider than a climbing helmet. Beyond the door there are 2 underground protestors chained to each other, the pipe on the left hand side is an air pipe pumping in fresh air. Another example below is where we have started the shoring of the entrance to the tunnel.

Our shoring is 1 metre square and there is a door to the tunnel, however again it gives you an idea as to how big their tunnels are. They have described their tunnels as worm tunnels where they have to exhale all the air from their bodies in order to get through to the inner chamber. One of the responsibilities that we have when we first get onto site, is to ensure that fresh air is pumped into the tunnel. This is done for Health and Safety reasons, not just for the protestors, but also for our Officers. They normally provide very little information regarding the extent of the tunnel network, so it really is “how long is a piece of string” for the number of day’s that it will take to reach them and remove. We are unable to bring machinery in due to the fragility of the tunnels, therefore all the digging is by hand. On one occasion they constructed 17 doors underground before the tunnelling team reached them.

We have, over recent years, introduced a 24 hour dig, which means there are two teams, one digging by day and the other by night. We take the view that day and night rolls into one when you are underground, with the result that the removal does not become protracted.