Just Stop Oil protestors target Pendragon’s Park Lane Aston Martin dealership

Just Stop Oil protestors followed up a tomato soup attack on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers by daubing Pendragon’s Stratstone Aston Martin dealership on Westminster’s Park Lane with orange paint.

The AM100 PLC’s supercar showroom – reopened by former Manchester United and England footballer Rio Ferdinand following a refurbishment in 2018 – was targeted by the attack yesterday (October 16) morning.

Protesters then sparked anger from some passers-by as they blockaded the busy road at around 11am.

The attack on its dealership came ahead of a Public Order Bill, which is set to go through Parliament tomorrow (October 18).

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has proposed to make it a criminal offence for people to carry glue with the intention of sticking themselves to highways or each other as part of the proposed bill.

The Telegraph newspaper reported that she will also allow herself to apply for court injunctions to stop protests where it is in the public interest in a bid to "streamline the process". This previously had to be done by transport agencies.

Back in April 2020, former Marshall Motor Holdings chief executive Daksh Gupta said he agreed with Extinction Rebellion’s “sentiment towards climate change” but not the execution of its protests after seeing one of his dealerships vandalised by campaigners.

Gupta took to Twitter hours after a string of attacks by the controversial campaign group on a number of other businesses in Marshall’s hometown of Cambridge to confirm that the group’s Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) dealership in the city had been one of the businesses targeted.

In his Tweet of the time, he said: “Extinction Rebellion targets Marshall......fortunately the site is all safe and secure. Agree with sentiment towards climate change but not the execution.”

AM has approached Pendragon for a response to the incident at its Aston Martin Park Lane dealership.