Giant cherry picker used in HS2 protest
This giant cherry picker was used by campaigners to highlight the "towering monstrosity" that is heading their way if the £33 billion HS2 project is approved.
Protesters gathered in the hamlet of Stockwell Heath, north of Rugeley, to demonstrate about the devastating impact they say the Government's high-speed rail network will have on the Staffordshire countryside. It was the second protest in the county in a matter of days.
A 36ft-high and 72ft-wide embankment would be constructed across fields stretching from Stafford to Lichfield, under initial proposals.
Campaigners say it will "rip the heart" out of villages such as Colton, Hopton, and the Haywoods, as trains travelling at more than 200mph shoot past.
Villagers from Stockwell Heath and Colton have used two cherry pickers on two sites earmarked for the Manchester to Birmingham phase of the project.
Michael Hartley, aged 60, and his wife Gill, 61, live just 200 metres from the centre of the planned track.
Their Moor Lane home of 19 years in Stockwell Heath would be dwarfed by the causeway and a nearby concrete bridge.
Mr Hartley said: "It would be devastating. Our house would stand in the shadows of this towering monstrosity.
"When you move to somewhere like Stockwell Heath this is not what you expect and not the lifestyle that you desire.
