Arla Foods Ltd v Persons Unknown, 2024 WL 03597159 (2024)
31. Animal rights protestors first entered one of the sites in March 2020. Animal Rebellion has claimed on its website that members of its group were responsible for the relevant action. On 3 March, two protestors entered the Oakthorpe Site and climbed on silos in which dairy product was stored. They were arrested and a minor delay in production operations was caused. Four days later, a much larger demonstration occurred, to which the 3 March demonstration appears to have been a precursor. Around 100 Animal Rebellion protestors entered the site and handcuffed themselves to the railings next to the tanker bay at the Site. They were removed by the Police. The protestors also erected a makeshift structure outside the site and attached themselves to it. They were removed and arrested. The protests came at a financial cost to the Claimants' business, both in the additional resources needed to protect the business and the adjustments needed to mitigate the impact. 32. On 31 August 2021, at around 5.30 am, around 50 protestors associated with Animal Rebellion attended the Aylesbury Site. The protest lasted approximately 24 hours. They (a) prevented access to the dairy by blocking Samian Way between the roundabout and first gatehouse; (b) erected two bamboo towers on Samian Way and attached themselves to the towers; and (c) parked a Luton-style van lengthways across the road, making the road impassable and locked themselves to the van. Further (d) several protestors sat in the road and erected and occupied tents on the grass verges, which are within Arla's freehold title. 33. Thames Valley Police arrived at the Site at around 6 am and remained there for the majority of the 24 hour period. They removed the protestors that had attached themselves to the bamboo structure, and dismantled the structure itself. Around twelve of the protestors were arrested. The blocking of access to the dairy necessitated the closure of the A41 for most of the day, Samian Way was closed for most of the 24 hour period and there was also significant traffic disruption caused in the neighbouring village of Buckland as a result of the closure of the A41. 34. Animal Rebellion's website, as it stood at 28 August 2022, details a campaign called " Down with Dairy ", which includes a description of the campaign, stating, among other things, that:
"The action is part of a sustained campaign, which saw a march and blockade of the Arla Factory by Animal Rebellion in March the previous year." "Thirteen of the world's largest dairy corporations, including Arla, together emitted more greenhouse gases in 2017 than major polluters BHP and ConocoPhillips, mining and oil giants respectively." "We're not just demanding that Arla go plant-based by 2025, we're demanding that the government supports companies like Arla by funding a just transition for workers in meat and dairy industries to just and sustainable alternatives." "You can read more about some of those involved in our campaign against Arla here."
35. More generally, the website explained the " Down with Dairy " campaign as follows:
"Animal Rebellion is calling on the dairy industry to transition to plant-based production by 2025…"
36. The August 2021 protests caused the following harm: (a) it prevented inbound deliveries of raw milk and other raw materials to the Aylesbury Site, which were all diverted elsewhere, and which in turn meant that around 80 farms could not have their milk collected; (b) outbound deliveries were disrupted, which caused disruption to 76 stores operated by Arla customers in the UK and impacted international cream products; (c) finished product went to waste; (d) other activities at the Aylesbury site were also impacted, customer audits of Arla's facilities were cancelled, tenants on other areas of Arla's land away from its dairies and distribution centres were impacted, and their operations stopped. The main financial loss was the loss of revenue from uncollected milk of around £170,000. There were also additional cleaning and security costs.
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