News
27 July 2010
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| BP |
ENVIRONMENTAL activists shut down more than 40 BP petrol stations in a sudden swoop across London this morning.
Starting at 5.30am, Greenpeace protestors cut the switch at 46 filling stations across the capital, including at sites in Wapping, Greenwich and Beckton.
A number are thought to have re-opened by 10am, but the organisation is confident it has made its point ahead of BP appointing Bob Dudley as the new chief executive later today.
At one station in Camden, Greenpeace replaced the BP logo with a new version showing the green 'sunflower' disappearing into a sea of oil.
Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven, speaking from outside the Camden station, said: "The moment has come for BP to move beyond oil. Under (previous chief executive) Tony Hayward the company went backwards, squeezing the last drops of oil from places like the Gulf of Mexico, the tar sands of Canada and even the fragile Arctic wilderness.
"We've shut down all of BP's stations in London to give the new boss a chance to come up with a better plan. They're desperate for us to believe they're going 'beyond petroleum'. Well now's the time to prove it."
The protest came on the same morning that BP recorded losses of $17 billion for the three month between April and June - a UK record.
JOHN HYDE