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FOLKESTONE MAN IN 600FT GREENPEACE PROTEST

Greenpeace protest at  the top of the Didcot chimney

A man from Folkestone is among about 10 Greenpeace demonstrators who have scaled a 600ft chimney stack while others chained themselves to a conveyor belt used for feeding coal into a power station in protest at 'Blair's legacy of fumes'.

Ben Stewart, 32 from Folkestone is one of more than 30 who surprised security guards at Didcot Power Station in Oxfordshire shortly after 5am and climbed up the main chimney alongside the cooling towers.

They have said they would not climb down until they had assurances from Tony Blair that he was committed to climate change.

Two protestors abseiled from the top of the chimney and painted "Blair's Legacy" in white paint on the giant concrete tower.

The demonstration was staged because Prime Minister Tony Blair is visiting nearby Milton.

The protestors claim the power station emits over six million tonnes of CO2 a year; more than the 29 lowest polluting countries put together. 

Power station chiefs said that the Didcot plant might be forced to shut down if the Greenpeace protest continued.