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One member of the group had brought a crowbar to break any locks.This was the group’s third protest in a week. Bankrolled by, among others, a wealthy stockbroker who lives in the flat, seven men – an inner circle of Fathers 4 Justice activists – briefed their new volunteer, promising an escalation in the group’s activities.Fathers 4 Justice told the IoS that the group now has more than 50 fathers ready to volunteer to climb a crane, scale buildings, invade courtrooms or block major roads.By Thursday night Mr Westell was receiving his military-style briefing. In a luxury, two-bedroom flat in the City of London, the group met on Thursday to plot its latest stunt. But the controversial group has been criticised for its hardline stance, the disruption caused by its stunts, and the cost to the taxpayer of policing them.Its campaign gained huge publicity in November when an activist dressed as Spiderman brought London traffic to a standstill and closed roads by occupying a crane above Tower Bridge for six days.But that, it seems, was only the start. The organisation has achieved huge publicity and a growing number of radicalised recruits – as many as 10,000 members by next May, reckon its leaders. More than 50 fathers are planning campaigns of civil disobedience to bring mass disruption to Britain’s roads and courts in the coming weeks, The Independent on Sunday can reveal, as 21-year-old drama student Darryl Westell spends his third day on a crane above the offices of the children’s minister, Margaret Hodge.
The IoS has gained unprecedented access to the secretive world of Fathers 4 Justice, which first came to public attention in October when two men dressed as Batman and Robin scaled the roof of the Royal Courts of Justice and unfurled a banner proclaiming: “Caped Crusaders for Justice, Stop Family Law Injustice Today.”The group maintains that many fathers are being wrongly or even illegally denied access to their children. And 18 million cars are predicted to be travelling on the roads, many of them on Christmas Eve, the AA said..

Nearly half a million people were due to travel under or over the English Channel to France, the Netherlands and Spain.Within the UK, train operators expect to move two million people a day up to and including Christmas Eve. BAA said that over Christmas and the New Year, more than 550,000 people would be flying out of the UK.Numbers travelling from Luton airport were expected to reach 160,000, with Manchester handling 250,000 and Birmingham 100,000. Of the major retailers, we could find only WH Smith that will be having true “January sales”.Richard Hyman, chairman of retail analysts Verdict, said the trend for earlier sales was most noticeable in the clothing sector. Consumers were leaving it later and later to start Christmas buying, he said, and the shops encouraged them in this by dropping their prices in the run up to the 25th.This year a record number of shops are expected to open on Boxing Day. Amanda Aldridge, head of retail at the accountants KPMG, said: “Its driven by demand. A few stores opened on Boxing Day last year and the others are now following.”Those who weren’t shopping were likely to be travelling, with a record 1.8 million leaving the country for the holidays.

Ms Walker expected that today would be even busier and tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday would see West End shops full of customers.The late boom has been helped by the large number of stores that have already started their sales. The Lakeside shopping centre in Essex was typical, with marketing manager Clare Silverman saying: “It’s been a great Saturday. People are spending a lot of money on high-price items, such as LCD televisions.”At the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, general manager David Robinson said: “We’ve seen an increase on last year in the number of shoppers and in the average spend per person.”In London, Regent Street Association executive officer Annie Walker said it had been a late start to the Christmas shopping rush but shops were very busy yesterday. They rounded up an impressive amount of stock, although whether their efforts will be enough to match last year’s spending levels, only time will tell.At Sainsbury’s, business was described as “absolutely manic”. A spokeswoman said: “Champagne and bottled beers are flying off the shelves.” And the debit card issuer Switch/Maestro said it expected to deal with 50 transactions a second, or 3,000 a minute.