M25 brought to a standstill by Insulate Britain climate protesters

Climate protesters demanding government action on home insulation partially blocked several junctions on the M25 motorway near London.

The Insulate Britain protests came after Extinction Rebellion protests snarled central London this month.

Tens of thousands of motorists attempting to use the UK's busiest motorway faced long delays while activists sat on the road holding banners.

National Highways said there was disruption at Junction 3 for Swanley in Kent, Junction 6 for Godstone in Surrey, Junction 14 for Heathrow Terminal 5, Junction 20 for Kings Langley in Hertfordshire, and Junction 31 for Purfleet in Essex.

Insulate Britain's 'leak homes' warning

Insulate Britain describes itself as “a new group demanding that the government gets on with the job of insulating Britain's homes".

Its website claimed that the disruption on Monday morning was “just the start”, and “action will continue until the government makes a meaningful commitment to insulate Britain's 29 million leaky homes".

One supporter, Liam Norton, a 36-year-old electrician from London, said he was “shocked at the lack of significant action".

“It's a no-brainer. Insulating Britain will reduce emissions, provide hundreds of thousands of jobs and stop our elderly dying in cold homes each winter. So stop messing about, Boris, and get on with the job,” he said.

Police officers arrest an Insulate Britain activist. Getty

“As soon as a statement is made that we can trust and is meaningful, we will get off the roads.”

Another activist, Zoe Cohen, 51, from Warrington, Cheshire called on the government to “stop making things worse with all their road building, airport expansion, HS2 white elephant and new oilfields”.

“We can't get to net zero if they don't take responsibility for this. Only the government can make this happen,” she said.

Protests rile AA chief

Edmund King, head of UK breakdown group the AA, was unimpressed by the “incredibly dangerous” protests, which he said were counterproductive environmentally, “by causing more delays and more vehicle emissions”.

“These are some of the busiest sections of the M25 where tens of thousands of drivers will have been affected and has a negative knock-on effect on economic activity,” he said.

National Highways said it was working hard with police and other partners to limit the effects of protests on the road network.

“We will do all we can to keep drivers up to date and on the move,” said Sean Martell, head of service delivery for the south-east.

Profile

Name: Carzaty

Founders: Marwan Chaar and Hassan Jaffar

Launched: 2017

Employees: 22

Based: Dubai and Muscat

Sector: Automobile retail

Funding to date: $5.5 million

Match info

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UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES

All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated

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ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.

Electric scooters: some rules to remember

Riders must be 14-years-old or over
Wear a protective helmet
Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
Do not drive outside designated lanes

UK-EU trade at a glance

EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years

Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products

Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries

Smoother border management with use of e-gates

Cutting red tape on import and export of food

Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”