On Tuesday 22nd of October, about a dozen people stormed a Birmingham North Relief Road construction site where a bridge was being built over a canal. Ignoring the cries of 'this is private property' from the few workmen who were not working on the bridge at the time, the protesters climbed the crane which was being used to provide the workers on the bridge with steel. One protester climbed to the top of the crane and locked part of the machinery together, therefore preventing work to continue on the bridge until the end of the workman's day. There was no hostility whatsoever from the workmen who laughed and joked and made the most of their unexpected break. Meanwhile other protesters managed to stop a JCB digger and a dump truck. They chatted to the workmen and gave them biscuits. Despite having had no action on the BNRR for about three years, the site manager and his security guards were quick to read out legal statements and have them recorded on camera. Two of the protesters were arrested for 'depriving a workman of his tools' under a law brought in during the miners strike to prevent secondary picketing.

This action, happening just one day before the start of the British International Motor Show in Birmingham, represents the start of a new phase of the campaign against car culture and climate change in the face of a renewed road building program under the Labour Government.