Locking On
A protest tactic involving attaching oneself or an object to another person, object, or land to create a physical obstruction. Criminalised by the Public Order Act 2023, s.1, where it causes or is capable of causing serious disruption. Maximum penalty: 6 months' imprisonment. Part of a series of new offences targeting disruptive protest tactics.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
Section 1 of the Public Order Act 2023 makes it an offence to attach oneself, another person, or an object 'to another person, to an object or to land', where the act causes or is capable of causing serious disruption to two or more individuals or to an organisation in a place other than a dwelling, and the person intends that consequence or is reckless as to whether it will occur. The offence is drafted broadly enough to cover both the classic image of protesters gluing or chaining themselves to a road, building or piece of machinery, and the attachment of an inanimate object to a fixed point to create an obstruction.
The Act provides a statutory defence: it is a defence for a person charged with the offence 'to prove that they had a reasonable excuse for the act', shifting an evidential and persuasive burden onto the defendant to justify the attachment. The offence is triable only summarily, carrying imprisonment for a term not exceeding the maximum term for summary offences (six months, rising to 51 weeks once the relevant provision of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 is in force), a fine, or both.
Locking on was one of a cluster of new protest-related offences created by the 2023 Act — alongside offences such as 'being equipped for locking on' and interference with key national infrastructure — introduced in response to direct-action tactics used by environmental and other protest groups. The provision came into force on 3 May 2023.
Example
A protester who chains themselves to railings outside a fuel depot, blocking the entrance and preventing tanker access for several hours, could be charged with locking on if the prosecution can show the act was capable of causing serious disruption and the protester had no reasonable excuse.
Related terms
Official sources
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