A dad who missed his flight and was left more than £2,000 out of pocket due to the Just Stop Oil protests has said he is “delighted” the activists were locked up.

It comes after two protesters who scaled the QEII bridge at the Dartford Crossing in October were jailed for a combined five years and seven months.

On Friday, April 21, Morgan Trowland, 40, and 34-year-old Marcus Decker were sentenced at Southend Crown Court, where the judge stressed he wanted others to be deterred from copying them.

The pair had caused gridlock on the M25 when police were forced to close the Queen Elizabeth Bridge after they decided to climb it to protest their cause.

Judge Shane Collery KC sentenced Trowland to three years in prison, while Decker was jailed for two years and seven months.

“I was delighted the moment I heard the news”, said Chris Armstrong, who was one of thousands affected by the protests.

“It doesn’t compensate me financially because I could not even claim on my insurance because it was a missed flight, but they will now have time to think about what they’ve done.

“The judge was very good when he was trying to make the point that protesting and upsetting the whole country is not the way to protest.

“I think everyone should have a right to protest, but you should do it in the right places.

“If you want to protest to the government and oil companies, that’s fine, but don’t upset the lives of everyday people - and that’s what they did.

He added: “l think it was a fair sentence because these guys probably have got jobs and families and they’re going to be locked up and have their liberty taken away.

“I’m sure they’ll think twice now about climbing up on a bridge or a gantry and disrupting everybody’s life knowing they will possibly end up going to prison again.”

Last October, the Medway man was stuck on the M25 for more than six hours, causing him to miss his flight from Stansted airport.

Chris left his home in Wainscott at 2pm, expecting to fly to Bangkok at 9.10pm.

He knew about the protests taking place at the Crossing and decided to leave a whole seven hours ahead of his flight to avoid any delays.

Mr Armstrong, who splits his time between Thailand and England, was forced to rebook his flights at a cost of £1,200.

Once back in the UK in November, the 58-year-old was faced with another Just Stop Oil protest, after activists climbed the gantries on the M25.

He said: “I went to see my sister in Surrey and I was driving on the M25, and all of a sudden traffic came to a halt.

“Turns out it was yet another Just Stop Oil protest, but this time they decided to climb up on the gantries.

“Luckily I managed to get back on the motorway again a couple of hours later. But it was just annoying that I was taking a road trip and again, they disrupted my travel.”

He added: “I’ve protested before in Thailand against human trafficking, so I know what it’s like to protest, but we do it in a calm and quiet way, without disrupting people’s lives.”