Snails moved from controversial Newbury bypass

Rare clusters of pinhead-sized snails were given a police guard yesterday as attempts began to move them from the route of the bitterly contested Newbury bypass.

Two weeks ago anti-bypass demonstrators halted the operation, designed to shift a colony of Desmoulin's whorl snails, by obstructing access to the site - despite an appeal for co-operation from the Highways Agency. Yesterday, a cordon of 70 police officers and 150 security guards arrived before 7am and secured the area.