The siege of the old LMS railway station in Oxford is under way as protesters dig in to stop it being dismantled.

Concrete sofas, tunnels, tree houses and nets hung from roof girders will be among the defences adopted by campaigners living in the former London, Midland and Scottish building in Park End Street.

Oxford University won a possession order in the High Court yesterday giving it the right to evict the squatters.

The eviction will be the responsibility of the under sheriff of Oxfordshire, Charles Graham, and bailiffs could arrive at any time.

But about 15 campaigners are determined not to go without a fight and are using tactics adopted by environmental campaigners at the Newbury bypass and Manchester Airport.

One of their more unusual weapons will be the concrete sofa, which they lock themselves on to when bailiffs move in. Jane, one of the campaigners, said: "To release you, they have to drill through the concrete."

She said tunnels around 20ft long had been dug. "People will move in and they will be very difficult to reach. All the measures are designed to make it more expensive for them to evict us." Other campaigners will be staying in tree houses outside the building. Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council want the building removed so Park End Street can be widened - something they argue is vital to the Oxford Transport Strategy.

Part of the site will also be used for Oxford University's new £45m Said Business School. When the University bought the land from Railtrack, it inherited the obligation to remove the building.

A University spokesman said: "We are anxious to regain possession of the building in order for experts to carry out a detailed survey.""We are obviously keen to clear the site swiftly and safely in order to start construction of the Said Business School. While we respect the protesters' right to voice their opinions publicly, we are also conscious of the need to protect the listed building from any possible damage."

The building will be dismantled and re-assembled at a railway heritage site in Buckinghamshire.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.