A furious builder has told a Just Stop Oil protester who was preaching about the cost of living crisis that he could pay his bills if he “could get to work”.

An activist leading the eco group’s latest road block in central London on Friday morning was ranting through a megaphone about people struggling to afford modern Britain.

The protester, brandishing an orange banner, said: “[The Government] continue to fail us throughout the cost of living crisis, the Covid pandemic and the climate crisis -- people are unable to pay their bills.”

It prompted a builder in a hi-vis jacket to reply: “People are unable to drive -- get out of the f------ road.”

Another enraged pedestrian then joined in, shouting at the activists in remarks echoed by the builder: “People can pay their bills if they can f------ work. How can they pay their bills if they can’t get to work, you mongrels.”

As the activists insisted they would rather not be slowly walking along the three-carriageway Marylebone Road, in the city of Westminster, the builder responded: “You don’t want to be here? Well f------ jump under a car and run yourselves over then you stupid c---. You’re a pain in the ass.”