A 76-year-old grandmother told a High Court judge she climbed a gantry on the M25 during a Just Stop Oil protest because the climate emergency was not being taken seriously enough and her "heart was breaking" for the future of her six grandchildren.

Retired teacher Gaie Delap, from Bristol, told Mr Justice Soole on Tuesday she had been given climbing training by a Just Stop Oil "mentor" before the protest last November. A policeman had treated her with "some surprise" after being called to the protest and scaling the gantry himself, she said.

Gaie said: "Why did I do it? My heart is breaking for the future of my six grandchildren and all future generations". She is one of 12 Just Stop Oil protestors accused with breaching a court injunction restricting disruptive protests on the M25. The hearing at the High Court in London is ongoing and expected to end later this week.

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Lawyers representing National Highways say that the protestors were in contempt of court for causing considerable delays. Gaie apologised as she was unaware of the injunction, as did the other defendants.

“I heard a Just Stop Oil Zoom call for climbers to volunteer,” she said, “I thought, ‘Well, I am 76, I have never had any climbing experience’. I didn’t think I had to volunteer for that. But it went onto my mind and stayed there. I then followed it up with an inquiry about how I might get involved.”

Gaie told the court that she had gone to a safe house the night before the protest and then climbed a ladder up the gantry where she sat for "a long time" before police arrived. She said: "A policeman climbed up and said ‘are you on your own?’ – in some surprise. I told him I was perfectly safe – I was attached to the gantry with a carabiner.”

Just Stop Oil wanted to stop the government from using new oil and gas, she said. She added: "The climate emergency is a serious issue and it has not been taken seriously enough."

The gantry was about five metres – more than 16 feet – high Gaie estimated, and she had been on it for several hours. Paul Sousek, 72, Theresa Norton, 65, and Paul Bleach, 56, also feature in the litigation.

Others protesters accused of contempt at the hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice, in London, are: Charlotte Kirin, 54; Daniel Johnson, 25; Joseph Linhart, 22; Luke Elson, 30; Mair Bain, 36; Paul Bell, 23; Rosemary Jackson, 25; and Theresa Higginson, 25.

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