CAPITAL NEWS UNION OFFICIAL’S MEGAPHONE
NOISE ‘ASSAULT’ CASE THROWN OUT
In yet another indus- try-related episode which falls under the general heading “you couldn’t make it up”, a trade union official’s case was dismissed last month on the grounds of ‘lack of evidence’. James Farrar, 51, chairman of the United Private Hire Drivers’ (UPHD) branch of the IWGB union, faced two charges of “assault by beating of an emergency worker” after he used a loud- hailer near Con- stable Ann Spinks and Sergeant James Lewis during a
demonstration ag- ainst the London congestion charge on March 4 last year. Mr Farrar had organ- ised a weekly Parliament Square demo against Trans- port for London (TfL) for exempting black cabs from the congestion charge but enforcing it for Uber and minicab drivers. Prosecutor Terence Woods told Southwark Crown Court: “The defen- dant, it is alleged, used a loudhailer or megaphone in close proximity to police officers. There are two complainants
James Farrar (fourth left) is joined by sup- portive fellow Uber drivers, outside Southwark Crown Court
who say their hear- ing was affected.” Icah Peart QC, defending, said it
would be “violence of the English lan- guage” to say that using a megaphone
TfL LAUNCH INVESTIGATION INTO LONDON CABBIE’S ‘KILL UBER’ NUMBER PLATE
A black cab driver is being investigated for driving around the capital with a licence plate that threatens to ‘Kill Uber’. The Daily Mail re- ports that the un- known driver, who was pictured outside the Savoy Hotel in central London last month, left onlook- ers shocked with the private plate KII UBR which has been interpreted as a threat to the Ameri- can taxi company. Following the sight- ing, Uber drivers reacted with out- rage at the pro- vocative plate. Farhan Khalid, 44, from Birmingham, who has been a
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minicab driver for 25 years, said: “If some- one has it in them to buy a number plate like this, I think they really need to step back and reflect on what’s important in their life. This hate for Uber is clearly
completely over- powering and con- suming their life.” He added: “The unfortunate thing is that this driver has made himself a tar- get now.” Kara Attila, an Uber driver from High
Wycombe, said he had only recently spotted a black cab driver with the pri- vate plate H8 UBR. The 38-year-old said: “They blame us for stealing their jobs. But it’s not our choice, customers have decided that it is much more con- venient to use 21st century technology. “They like ordering cabs straight to their door, now it’s time to either adapt, evolve or you are not going to survive.” Graham Robinson, TfL’s taxi boss, com- mented: “Having been made aware of this number plate we are now conducting an urgent investiga- tion.”
was an application of force. He contin- ued: “As the organiser of the protest, how else could he have made himself heard if he had not taken advantage of equip- ment such as the loudhailer? “There is no sugges- tion that Mr Farrar ought to have ap- preciated that by using that loudhailer in the way he had done numerous times previously that anyone was going to suffer any discomfort over and above how they were going to suffer having been in that crowd in any event.” Jurors heard that Mr Farrar, of Hamp- shire, had used the megaphone before at the weekly pro- tests which typically featured drums, air horns, whistles and vuvuzelas, as well as other megaphones. At the end of the prosecution case, Judge Philip Bartle QC told the jury at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday 16 January to find Farrar not guilty after his defence argued there was no evidence he had committed a crime. Judge Bartle said: “The essence of the defence argument, which I accept, was that the facts did not justify the offence in either case of assault by beating because the offence requires unlawful application of force.”
Mr Farrar is now considering a civil case against the Metropolitan Police for a malicious pros- ecution, describing it as a “corrupt and crude attempt… to break our union.” Mmmm… Eh? Par- don? What’d you say?? What an abso- lute nonsense! – and waste of public and private funds. We all know that James Farrar is a passion- ate campaigner for workers’ rights in the industry; we know he has taken part in many demonstrations, and always has a few things to
say on
those occasions. But “assaulting the offi- cers with a megaphone”? Come off it! Megaphones have been used since time immemo- rial… the ancient Greeks kicked off with a primitive ver- sion in the 5th century BC; then Thomas Edison’s invention was given the current name ‘megaphone’ in 1878. Politicians, other public speak- ers and entertainers have used them for decades; they’re a public speaker’s tool of the trade. Deaf- ness resulting from a single burst of loud noise is strictly temporary… Inciden- tally, the court heard that both Met Police officers had pre- existing conditions and neither suffered lasting hearing loss as a result of the demo. – Ed.
FEBRUARY 2020
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