Chaos at Costain

Costain AGM

Newbury contractors Costain held their AGM on 9th September in Westminster. Campaigners had been eagerly looking forward to this opportunity for months and on the day, more protesters (200+) than shareholders turned up.....so the meeting belonged to us!

Friends of the Earth had done loads of good build-up work getting all the ‘eco-shareholders’ to the meeting, but merely wanted them to ask questions (that’ll change things!?), and got last minute jitters about damage to their reputation if the meeting became chaotic.

Meanwhile, lots of EF!ers were plotting how to cause maximum chaos! Same planet, different worlds.....what would happen, we wondered?

Things started slowly, with ‘polite but firm’ questions ensuring that we seized the agenda of the meeting before it had even started. It soon became clear that Costain were going to have a very rough ride, with speeches by the Chairman and a representative of Intria (Costain’s Malaysian backers) cut short by hecklers. In fact, there was very little but Newbury-related heckling for most of the two-hour meeting.......that’s what we call good business!

As the formal votes of the meeting approached, protesters swarmed towards the stage, intent on stopping the meeting. The usual game of rugby with Pinkerton’s Security followed, with stinkbombs and plastic plants flying! The Chairman was reduced to bellowing out the votes, red-faced and frantic, as the meeting dissolved around him. Total chaos - lovely!

The protest was extremely successful; an AGM has never been trashed to this extent before. Nonetheless, it was a shame not to actually shut down the meeting with so many activists present. Maybe we’ll do that next year - hang on to your share certificates! Contact Third Battle of Newbury: 01635 45545.