British farce

The following was reported in the British Daily Mail :

”Racist” driving

Incredible but true a motorist from the historical central Scotland town of Stirling spent two nights behind bars after being accused of wait for it.......... "revving his car in a racist manner"!

Mechanic Ronnie Hutton, 49, described his court ordeal which finally ended when prosecutors dropped the allegation of racism. But he was still convicted of a breach of the peace for revving the engine of his £25,000 Lotus.

An off-duty policeman from the Central Scotland force, Chief Inspector Eoin Jenkins “thought” the driver was “targeting” Muslim Isam Maigel and his wife Hana Saad who happened to be walking along the pavement close to where Mr. Hutton was momentarily parked.

On Thursday (14th), at Stirling Sheriff court, the Crown conceded that the racist part of the charge should be dropped but Sheriff Andrew Cubie convicted Ronnie of breach of the peace and fined him £150.

Mr. Hutton was shocked by the decision, he told reporters "To be convicted for revving my car in a busy street is hard to take. Does this mean anyone driving a noisy car in Scotland is now a criminal?"

Following the incident in September 2005, police officers arrived at Ronnie's home and asked him to come with them to the station to talk about the incident. He ended up being kept in a cell for two nights before being taken to court where he was released without charge.

He complained to the fiscal and the new charges surfaced months later. He said: "The police kept me in custody over the weekend because I made the mistake of swearing at a senior officer."

In court, Mr. Maigel, 28, then a student at Stirling University, claimed: "The driver came alongside and was trying to annoy us by revving his engine very, very loudly."

Using an interpreter, his wife Hana Saad, 23, said he had degraded them "maybe because we are Muslim".

Ronnie claims he was only trying to prevent the repeat of an engine problem he had suffered earlier with the Esprit.

He said: "I've had problems with the Lotus since I bought it. I paid £15,000 for a new engine in 2003.

"As soon as I started the car the oil pressure light wouldn't go out. I accept I revved the engine - it's a V8 twin turbo and is noisy and frightening.

"I would openly apologise to this couple. I am not a racist."

He is now considering an appeal against his conviction - and also plans to sell the Lotus. He said: "It has been nothing but trouble."

Good luck with the appeal Mr. Hutton but British motorists are warned that driving without undue care and attention to the sensitivities of ethnic minorities and parking in a homophobic and racist manner are likely to appear on the statute books at any moment!

The Daily Mail up to its usual high standard of investigative reporting, I see...

The Daily Mail may be a rubbish newspaper ( aren't they all ? ) but was the story true ? The only way to find out what is REALLY going on in this country is to go to :

[url=http://www.bnp.org.uk] or
[url=http://www.civilliberty.org.uk]

The story was true, sadly. It was reported in other papers as well.