A MILLIONAIRE island laird has revealed how he fears for the lives of his son and daughter who are burrowed deep in a protest camp tunnel 500 miles away.

Speaking from his home on the remote Hebridean island of Gometra, renowned environmental activist, Roc Sandford, launched a stinging attack on health and safety chiefs.

Mr Sandford said he has lodged a complaint with the Health and Safety Executive, for failing to halt eviction tactics he claims have put his daughter Blue, son Lazer, and other protestors’ lives at risk.

Blue Sandford, 18, and her brother Lazer, 20, are burrowed deep in a 100ft long earth tunnel, secretly constructed under London’s Euston Square Gardens, by protestors against HS2’s £106billion high speed train development plan.

As safety fears grow for the small band of eco warriors, who have already witnessed five soil collapses in the tunnel as eviction teams worked on gaining access, Mr Sandford urged HSE to intervene, before someone is hurt.

As the protestors, who have been holed up in the tunnel since Wednesday night, looked into taking legal action against HSE, Mr Sandford said: “It is clear that a dangerous situation is rapidly evolving which is within HSE’s statutory obligations to address with utmost urgency. This is an emergency. HSE’s current response is totally inadequate.

“Heads will roll at HSE on this, ideally at the top, they need to get in there before someone gets seriously hurt. This is not a time to get bureaucratic and play for time, they need to get down to Euston and do their job, which is to listen to what the protestors are saying and address the life-threatening risks they are being subjected to at the hands of HS2 and NET (National Eviction Team)."

Reiterating allegations made by the protestors in daunting video footage, and calls for help from the depths of the tunnel, Mr Sandford claims the eviction team has put lives at risk by actions such as denying protestors the right to monitor Oxygen levels in the depths of the tunnel, allowing water to flood in and destabilise the tunnel, stamping and kicking on structures above the heads of protestors and dropping tree trunks onto the site of the tunnels.

He said: “I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that the actions of NET are clearly unlawful. The protesters are guaranteed a right to protest under Article 11 of the Human Rights Act. That right has been limited in the context of the pandemic, but does not exclude the right to protest in this case, which is protected by article 15.

“There is also a risk of substantial harm to the protestors which breaches NETs duty of care and constitutes an act of negligence, unless premeditated.

"HSE and Metropolitan Police have statutory duties and duties of care which do not appear to be being delivered.”

He added: “NET have been taunting the protestors, who are being deprived of sleep by the noise of power tools and machinery day and night,which violates article 3 prohibition of torture etc of the Human Rights Act."

He claimed: “Various protestors have been assaulted. For instance my son Lazer has had a NET contractor stand on his arm and sit on his head.

“NET have consistently made undertakings which are not then delivered on, for instance to give respite from the noise of power tools, or to remove urine and liquid spoil."

He added: “I understand my son and daughter were left supporting a bucket above their heads for 45 minutes while it was being pushed by the boots of a NET employee. This has the effect of undermining the protestors psychologically.

“The first day in the tunnel NET gave the protestors an oxygen monitor to check oxygen in the tunnels. “It went red and started bleeping and recorded 19 and 19.6 in the tunnels and 24 in the down-shaft.

“NET are now refusing to let them continue monitoring, claiming that it its sufficient to monitor oxygen half way down the downshaft ,where it is refreshed by the atmosphere. Meanwhile HS2 is issuing false statements to the press saying the protestors are refusing to measure the oxygen, so putting their lives at risk.”

He added: “The protestors were catching all the rain water with a guttering system and a series of wheelie bins they found in a skip. They believe the NET have tipped over the bins and all that water is making its way down into the tunnel and destabilising it,
added to the rain which is no longer being caught since the destruction of the rainwater system by NET.

“This is a life threatening situation created by NET, possibly deliberately to flush out the protestors.

“The tunnels were dry and stable for several months until the day NET tore down the gutters and tipped out the water bins. There have been five collapses since they did so.

“NET are refusing to let the protestors clear spoil from the collapses so as to be able to repair the tunnels. These actions are putting the protestors’ lives at risk.”

Mr Sandford’s strong environmental ethics have seen the member of campaign group Extinction Rebellion attend many climate change protests.

Now his children are following in his footsteps, although he says he is not as brave as them.

He said: “They have completely outclassed me in their protests which proves it isn’t coming from me. I am always begging them to be careful and I sometimes feel like I am going to collapse with fear but I am also so proud of what they are achieving."

But he added: “We’re putting children in danger by using petrol, diesel, gas. This puts carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which makes it heat up like a sauna, which causes food shortages, floods, burning forests and wars.

“It’s not a video game or a disaster movie, it’s real and it’s happening now all over the world and soon it will be happening to us.

“Top climate scientists are saying governments like ours are risking killing almost all our children. It’s as simple as that.

“My children have burrowed deep under Euston with their friends to protest HS2. They are being besieged down there.

“I’ve seen a horrible video about what’s happening to my son Lazer. No one should have to go through that.”

However, he added: “But I understand why they are doing it, they don’t have a choice. They’re sick of watching nature dying and the UK government waffling and doing everything except what it takes.”

He added: “It’s so scary and I have been going though a really dark and miserable place knowing I could lose them.

“They are so brave to do this but they shouldn’t have to carry this responsibility.

“It’s not fair on such young people to have to clear up other people’s mess. But they don’t have a choice - it’s an emergency, the climate is breaking down, nature is breaking down around us.That is causing wars and famines and killing people already.

A spokeswoman for HS2 told the BBC last week the  tunnel protests were "costly to the taxpayer".

She said: "HS2 has taken legal temporary possession of Euston Square Gardens in order to progress with works necessary for the construction of the new Euston station.

"These protests are a danger to the safety of the protesters, our staff and the general public, and put unnecessary strain on the emergency services during a pandemic."