A DISABLED climate change campaigner has told how he was was arrested while he obstructed a major London road during the Extinction Rebellion protest this week.

Nick Hodgkinson said he was left on Millbank, one of the roads next to Parliament, for four hours in rainy weather on Wednesday as officers did not have the proper transport to take him to a police station.

He said: "I was arrested for Obstruction of the Highway as part of the Extinction Rebellion Climate Emergency protest.

"I was in the middle of the road, with hundreds of other Extinction Rebellion activists from the north of England.

"The aim was to disrupt ‘business as usual’ and force the government to take the climate emergency seriously.

"The police could not transport me to a police station so I stayed in the road for four hours until l was ‘de-arrested’."

Mr Hodgkinson, who turned 57 on Wednesday and worked with Citizens Advice in Bradford for many years, uses a wheelchair, has a tracheostomy tube in his neck and needs a ventilator to breathe.

His protest was part of a series of major Extinction Rebellion demonstrations in and around the capital which by yesterday had already seen more than 1,000 people arrested.

Targets of the action included London City Airport and the BBC.

Mr Hodgkinson said: "I gave my arresting officer a letter from my NHS consultant that explained my illness - I have multiple health problems and complex care needs, caused by Motor Neurone Disease. He read it and looked perplexed.

"So did the Inspector when she read it. I explained that I would not move my wheelchair and they agreed they could not lift me out of it because of the risks to my health. They were very polite and seemed genuinely concerned about my health.

"I asked them, even if I did agree to move: ‘have you got a wheelchair accessible van to take me to a police station to be charged?’ Again, they looked perplexed. So I gave them my prepared arrest interview statement to read where we were in the road - which was still blocked.

"That sparked a good conversation about the climate crisis and why the protest was happening. After a while, me and my arresting officer swapped stories about football injuries and complained about the rain.

"After about four hours in the road, I had to leave because the battery on my ventilator machine (which I need to breathe) was almost out of power. So I told my arresting officer I was off and he openly smiled. ‘Hang on,’ he said, ‘I’ve got to formally de-arrest you first’.

"Who knew that de-arresting was actually a thing!

"I never felt scared or intimidated throughout the whole time. But I am scared that our government is not taking urgent action to tackle the climate crisis. All the world’s scientific experts agree that we have 10 years left to make big changes. If we’ve don’t do this, we are failing our children and they will not forgive us.

"I have Motor Neurone Disease. This is a terminal illness with no cure. I don’t know how long I’ve got left but I do know I won’t live long enough to suffer the worst effects of climate breakdown. I can live with dying. But I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try to stop climate breakdown ruining the lives of our future generations - you, your children or their children.

"I have written to MPs, met with local councillors, signed petitions, gone on marches and reduced my own carbon footprint. And where are we now? Moving steadily towards a global temperature rise of 3C or more. Human civilisation and millions of other species cannot survive the consequences of that increase.

"This is why I took part in conscientious, non violent, civil disobedience. I have run out of other options and we’re all running out of time."