TWO Just Stop Oil activists who blockaded an oil terminal in Clydebank last year have been admonished.

Louis McKechnie, 22, and Alastair Gibson, 21, refused to leave the Exolum Storage Terminal at Rothesay Dock when commanded by the superintendent police officer between May 3 and 5 this year.

At the time of the incident supporters blocked access to the Nustar Clydebank facility by climbing on top of tankers and locking on to the entrance at around 4am on May 3.

Others entered the oil terminal, where 12 protesters sat on pipes and three were on the silos to halt operations.

It was the first action its kind in Scotland.

The duo failed to appear at Dumbarton Sheriff Court last week as it was heard that they have since been involved in more climate activism by participating in a sit-in protest on a racetrack at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone two months later, in July.

Meanwhile, McKechnie also glued himself to a Vincent Van Gogh painting in London which caused £2,000 of criminal damage.

He and another activist superglued themselves to Van Gogh’s 1889 work Peach Trees In Blossom at the Courtauld Gallery on June 30.

McKechnie of Manchester, and Gibson, of Aberdeen, along with four other protestors stormed the Wellington Straight, the fastest point of the Northamptonshire track, before sitting down during the opening lap of the race on July 3. 

Defence solicitor Clare Ryan said: “The situation is that they were involved in a sit down protest on the track. The situation is that neither of them could be here. We don’t know what the outcome of the trial is going to be, but clearly they were involved in some matter. 

Sheriff William Gallacher admonished the pair and said of his decision: “I take the view that is the necessary and appropriate disposal. I feel bringing them here is more complex than it is justified.”