A 20-second protest cost David Bromfield £12,000 – his partner in crime Phillip Manion will pay nothing
Two vandals who burnt and painted over ULEZ cameras in West London have avoided prison after Transport for London (TfL) overestimated the damage by £5,000. But it was a costly lick of paint for David Bromfield, 66, who must pay £10,000 for his defence, plus £2,000 in compensation to TfL, while Philip Manion, 57, will not pay a penny due to financial constraints.
Bromfield did not want to answer MyLondon’s questions after the hearing. When we asked Manion about the costs accrued by his friend, he said: “I wouldn’t say ‘worth it’, but I felt justified in what I was doing.”
The protesters – dubbed ‘blade runners’ by the media due to the use of circular saws for disabling ULEZ cameras – used a blow torch and paint rollers mounted on decorator sticks to put two cameras out of action in Uxbridge in October 2024, in protest against the controversial pollution reduction scheme which costs drivers in non-compliant vehicles £12.50 every day they use London roads.
The duo were caught almost immediately and hauled to the police station, where, according to Bromfield, the officers explained they could not offer him a caution because TfL had estimated the damage at more than £8,000, putting them into the most serious bracket of criminal damage (for offences over £5,000).
The defendants admitted causing criminal damage over £5,000 and having an article with intent to destroy property at Uxbridge Magistrates Court in July this year. But once the case was committed to Isleworth Crown Court for sentence, TfL revised the cost of the damage down to £3,128 after realising the cameras could be repaired, rather than replaced, the court heard this week.
Both defendants maintain the actual cost of repairing the cameras is no more than £2,000 and have asked TfL to provide evidence of their damage and cost assessments. It is believed each camera is worth thousands of pounds, but TfL have a policy of keeping ULEZ figures secret to avoid copy-cat attacks, even after a media challenge and investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
TfL’s costing mistake means Bromfield paid more than £10,000 in legal costs for representation at three crown court hearings, when his case could have been dealt with in the magistrates, or possibly at the police station.
On Thursday (September 4) the Crown offered no evidence on the criminal damage over £5,000 counts. Instead both defendants pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage under £5,000, maintaining their pleas to having an article with intent to destroy property.
‘Hillingdon Blockers’
Prosecutor James O’Connell said the men attended the junction between Long Lane and Western Avenue at around 7:30pm on October 25 last year, where they were met by a member of the public who challenged them and took photographs.
When Manion and Bromfield said they were there to damage the cameras, insisting there is ‘a lot of public support’, Mr O’Connell said their challenger told them it would cost the public purse and create delays while the cameras were repaired.
An off-duty police officer who also witnessed the damage called 999 and police arrived at the scene to find the defendants standing by a fence, while the decorator poles, paint rollers, and blow torch lay in the adjacent garden.
Officers searching Bromfield’s car then found a stash of anti-ULEZ stickers, tissues with red paint on, and Bromfield’s phone which had just received a call from the ‘Hillingdon Blockers’ Facebook group, which is anti-ULEZ, according to police.
Under questioning, Bromfield made full admission, but Manion denied being the man in the CCTV footage as he waited for legal advice. By the time they reached the magistrates, Manion had changed his tune.
This morning the court heard a reporting restriction was previously put in place to keep Manion’s guilty plea secret as he is still under investigation by police for other ULEZ-related offences. The order had expired by today’s hearing and was not renewed. After the hearing Manion confirmed he is still under investigation for ‘conspiracy’ offences.
‘A misguided attempt at affecting justice’
Defending Bromfield, of Hedgerley in Buckinghamshire, Alice Holloway said her client was a precision engineering business owner, and that the business was struggling by the time of the second ULEZ expansion in August 2023.
Apparently employing three people whose cars were not compliant, Bromfield claims he agreed to pay their ULEZ charges until he was forced to sell the company due to the increased operating costs.
But Bromfield did not provide any evidence of this to the Recorder of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Judge Martin Edmunds KC, who said: “If you’re going to suggest ULEZ caused him to sell the business, I would expect you to provide evidence or it sounds like mere puff. There’s been a lot of mere puff with this subject.”
Later Ms Holloway clarified that ULEZ had been ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’, and that Bromfield’s company had already been on the verge of collapse due to Covid.
Bromfield shared his anger at the scheme through Ms Holloway, who said: “He says it as an unfair tax on hardworking people, a revenue generating machine for TfL. He was unable to object as he was residing and working just outside the catchment area.”
Bromfield, who donates to charities in Gambia providing sheep for local people, said he had never considered himself an activist before but met Manion at an anti-ULEZ meeting, they became friends, then employed him for some handyman work.
On the night in question they had planned to go to the pub, but, Bromfield claims, made a spur of the moment decision to vandalise the cameras, though only intending to damage the replaceable plastic screens on the front.
“This is a cause Mr Bromfield cares deeply about. He has a strong sense of justice and the motivation for this offending appears to be a misguided attempt at affecting justice,” added Ms Holloway.
Defending Manion, of Northwood, barrister Mark Kimsey said his client had left Bristol to come to live in Wembley to work as a handyman but moved to the Ruislip area after the first ULEZ scheme was imposed in 2019.
When the scheme was expanded in 2023, it put Manion and his diesel car in the zone again, costing him £12.50 every time he drove 250 yards down the road to buy petrol, the barrister claimed.
Along with a range of health issues, Mr Kimsey claimed this forced Manion into unemployment and universal credit, leaving him with only £400 a month to spend on food and other living costs. “He was frustrated at the time. He tells me he does not intend to continue with this form of action,” added Mr Kimsey.
‘You chose criminal action’
Judge Edmunds told the defendants: “There is general concern about the quality of the air that we breathe and the effects of pollution on the health of Londoners.
“It is for those put in authority by the democratic process to determine what measures are required to improve air quality. We all recall the vigorous debate prior to the imposition of the extended ULEZ scheme as to whether it was the best way to address the objective and whether it would have a disproportionate impact on some road users.
“After that debate and the decision to implement the scheme, you chose criminal action to express your objections and seek to impact the enforceability of the scheme.”
The judge considered Bromfield’s previous convictions were old and not relevant, while taking note of Manion’s convictions for driving offences ending in 2002, which showed ‘he had little regard for motoring restrictions’ at the time.
While the judge accepted Bromfield’s employees had been affected by ULEZ, he would not accept the ‘extreme’ mitigation that his business had closed due to the scheme. He also noted Bromfield showed no remorse. Judge Edmunds said the damage had caused ‘some, but unquantifiable, social impact’, and accepted the defendants’ figure of £2,000 damage.
Facing a maximum sentence of three months or a £2,500 fine, both men received a 12-month community order. Only Bromfield will pay £2,000 in compensation and complete 100 hours of unpaid work due to Manion’s health and financial constraints.
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