Chavs get their comeuppance

Sorry for the perjorative thread title, but living in a rural area like farmer Robert Hooper, I am all too used to the sense of entitlement often shown by drivers who seem to think road traffic laws and basic good behaviour are optional once they’re outside of the town. This includes inconsiderate and downright selfish people parking their cars so as to prevent the rest of us even getting ours off our driveways, or blocking single track roads and causing mayhem when mountain rescue can’t then get by (it happens around here more often than you might think).

Hooper’s decision to use a talehandler to forcibly remove this manchild’s Corsa from his farm access was undoubtedly extreme, but a jury decided that he wasn’t guilty of dangerous driving or causing criminal damage as he did so. (If posting in this thread do please remember that the man is *not* guilty in law and refrain from libelling him ).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-60260155

(BBC article includes a very entertaining video)

A farmer who used a telehandler to pick up a car and dump it in a road to defend his property has been cleared of dangerous driving and criminal damage.
Robert Hooper, 57, had told Durham Crown Court he felt "frightened and threatened" when he took the action.
He had argued an "Englishman's home is his castle", and he had been assaulted before he used his vehicle to remove the Corsa in County Durham last June

.

[Jaymoss]

Was just reading this. Fair play and justice done

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Chris

Hooper’s decision to use a talehandler to forcibly remove this manchild’s Corsa from his farm access was undoubtedly extreme, but a jury decided that he wasn’t guilty of dangerous driving or causing criminal damage as he did so. (If posting in this thread do please remember that the man is *not* guilty in law and refrain from libelling him )

I wonder if the same sort of comments about the jury not arriving at the 'right' decision will come from this as it did for the Coulson statue trial? Will the AG refer it to the Court of Appeal for review to 'clarify' the law?

Originally Posted by BenMcr

I wonder if the same sort of comments about the jury not arriving at the 'right' decision will come from this as it did for the Coulson statue trial? Will the AG refer it to the Court of Appeal for review to 'clarify' the law?

A genuinely good point - of course, in both cases the jury is right because a properly directed jury can never be wrong. That’s a basic tenet of our system. Appeals against conviction may be made on the basis that the jury was not properly directed but appeals against acquittal cannot, except in extremely rare and compelling cases where a serious crime has been committed.

[idi banashapan]

Originally Posted by Chris

Sorry for the perjorative thread title, but living in a rural area like farmer Robert Hooper, I am all too used to the sense of entitlement often shown by drivers who seem to think road traffic laws and basic good behaviour are optional once they’re outside of the town.

snip...
.

Trust me, too many of them think they are optional in the town as well.

[1andrew1]

Pleased to see the verdict. No way would that drunken idiot be able to walk 52 miles!

[Mr K]

Overkill. Just needs a good shove to move a Corsa

The car had been parked by Mr Burns' friend, Elliott Johnson, at Mr Hooper's property in Newbiggin-in-Teesdale after suffering a double puncture.

Seems a bit of a weak reason, he could have parked it on the grass verge you can see on the main road.

[Halcyon]

So many people seem to think that once they are out on country roads it becomes a racing track, littering ground, or places to do whatever they want.


Recently we heard of joy riders who went over an entire field of crops. They had no idea the damage and loss of earnings they had caused a local farm, especially with farmers struggling at the moment too.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

So many people seem to think that once they are out on country roads it becomes a racing track, littering ground, or places to do whatever they want.


Recently we heard of joy riders who went over an entire field of crops. They had no idea the damage and loss of earnings they had caused a local farm, especially with farmers struggling at the moment too.

There ain't a lot of grey matter between their ears, unfortunately.