Police charge ‘French Spiderman’ Alain Robert after he climbed London’s Heron Tower
Police have charged the so-called 'French Spiderman' who scaled Heron Tower yesterday with a public nuisance offence.
Alain Robert, 56, is a renowned skyscraper climber and was seen ascending the 754ft Salesforce building at around lunchtime as a number of onlookers watched.
Police reprimanded Robert on the scene after they were forced to close off roads from Camomile Street down to Bevis Marks and urged the public to stay away.
The Frenchman will appear before Canada Magistrates' Court later today.
Robert has previously scaled some of the world's tallest skyscrapers, including the Empire State Building and Dubai's Burj Khalifa, but this was his first climb in London for nine years.
It is believed the stunt was a part of a promotion by the rum brand, Dead Man's Fingers.
On his last visit to the capital, the owners of The Shard took out a High Court injunction to prevent him climbing the city's tallest building.
He has also previously scaled the Lloyds Building twice as well as Portland House.
Following the arrest on Thursday, commander Karen Baxter said: “The incident has had a considerable impact on police, other emergency services and the local community. Our officers, the London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service all attended this incident taking them away from genuine emergencies.
"Road closures meant a significant disturbance to local transport and businesses and their staff located in the building were also considerably affected.
“While the incident has caused immense disruption to everyday business in Canada it also posed a significant level of risk to the safety of people in and around Heron Tower at the time.”