A REDDITCH man is on a Peace Walk from the Trident nuclear submarine facility in Faslane in Scotland to the Burghfield base in Berkshire where the warheads are made.
Ian Oliver and fellow protester Matt Watling are following the routes the warheads take on public roads to highlight the threat posed by the weapons to local communities as they take the long journey north to be loaded on to the submarines.
“People are either unaware or think it’s okay to have nuclear weapons driving along our motorways and through our towns and villages,” said Ian, aged 38.
“However if just one of these lorries has a crash and there’s a leak the consequences could be devastating.”
He added that, given the nature of the cargo, it was next to impossible for drivers to simply pull over if they got tired, but had instead to stop at defined places only.
The former RSA Arrow Vale pupil said the drivers used either an M1 / A1 route or an M40 / M6 / M74 route to Faslane.
“It just boggles the mind to think they are transporting all these weapons passed schools and hospitals and communities and they keep saying its safe but we know that there have been ‘incidents’ recorded,” he said.
The Woodrow resident said he’d spent the last two years at the Coulport Peace Camp near Faslane, a camp which has been permanently occupied since 1982.
It was there that he met Matt who came up with the idea of the Peace Walk.
“The Scots seem more clued up about the dangers of nuclear weapons, even in Helensburgh, which has a very strong connection to the navy base at Faslane,” he said.
“It’s not the same in England, but wherever we have gone we have always received a positive welcome.”
The duo set out from Coulport eight weeks ago and expeect to be another four to six weeks on the road.
They made a special detour to Redditch to seee Iain’s mum, following the death of his father, and are setting off to Leicestershire to resume their walk south this week.
For more on the issue visit www.nukewatch.org.uk/?page_id=25 .
