One of the drivers arrested during an M4 'go slow' protest has claimed police held her in "absolutely disgusting" conditions and hit her with a £150 charge to get her car back.
Vicky Stamper, from Cwmbran, was among 12 drivers arrested shortly before 11am on Monday near the M4 Severn Bridge, on suspicion of breaching a police notice not to drive under 30mph. Two convoys had been holding up traffic since around 7am with slow-moving roadblocks on both sides of the bridge. Police impounded Vicky's Vauxhall Corsa and the other vehicles involved in the protest against rising fuel costs. You can read more about that here.
Now Vicky has claimed to WalesOnline that she spent around 11 hours in custody, including about five hours in a cell with "blood up the wall, pee all over the place and a toilet with sick all over it". She has slammed Gwent Police's treatment of her in custody and a "ridiculous" £150 charge to retrieve her car.
Read next: Why fuel protesters are blocking the M4 and M62 motorways
"If I paid that I wouldn't be able to do any shopping for two weeks — I would have to go without food so my 16-year-old son can eat," said the 41-year-old who recently lost her job as a HGV driver due to soaring fuel prices. She later said she had paid the £150 after receiving a loan from her mother.
The demonstration had started at 6am with one set of protesters — including Vicky — gathering at Magor services and another on the England side of the bridge. One officer told the Magor group that it would not be "acceptable" for the convoys to travel "up and down" the M4 at under 30mph. The eight vehicles in the Magor convoy travelled over the bridge and into Wiltshire before heading back and being stopped by arresting officers on the Wales side of the bridge. The other convoy was stopped at around the same time on the England side.
Vicky, who drove the Corsa while partner Darren was in the passenger seat, said she had thought the protest would involve a stationary blockade on the bridge rather than a 'go slow'. She added: "I was expecting us to stop on the bridge. When I passed I thought, 'Where the bloody hell are we going?' Darren was reading the leaflet police had given us. He said, 'Just make sure you don't go under 30mph.' So I put cruise control on."
On the way back from Wiltshire, Vicky said she was "way out in front" of the rest of the convoy. "I could see they were dipping behind and didn't want them to get in trouble. I kept stopping for them to catch up and putting my hand out of the window to hurry them up."
Police surrounded the convoy and arrested the drivers. Vicky was taken to a Newport police station at around 11.30am, spending about two hours in a reception area before being placed in a cell.
"They refused to give me a phone call to Darren," she said. "The cell was absolutely disgusting. There was blood and vomit on the toilet so I had to hover. One of the custody officers came in at about 6pm and said, 'You're being interviewed in five or 10 minutes.' But then I was kept in the cell for another couple of hours.
"I was absolutely starving. They brought me a chicken korma and I said, 'I can't eat that, I'm allergic to curry.' Garlic, chilli, the lot. Then they brought me a ham salad sandwich and I couldn't have that because I'm allergic to tomatoes. If they'd let me ring Darren he would have been able to come by and drop food off.
"The interview was at about 8.15pm and it went on for about two hours. They were asking me why I was the ringleader. I was like, 'I wasn't — I just saw a flyer on Facebook for a standstill blockade.' Then they said it was a rolling one, and I was like, 'You told us it was a rolling one, not us.' We didn't agree to that because that's using more fuel, it doesn't make any sense. So that makes us look like d*******s because we were using fuel to do the protest. I was simply going with the flow. I didn't arrange all of this. I couldn't organise a p***-up in a brewery, never mind that. I'd have been proud if I did it."
Vicky was released from custody under investigation at 10.18pm, "starving and in need of nicotine" after allegedly being denied a request to smoke. She was told she must pay £150 to get her car back, rising by £21 each day she failed to pay, she claimed.
The mum phoned Gwent Police on Tuesday morning to complain. "I said I'd like to report my car stolen. They said, 'Right, do you have any idea who it was?' I told them, 'Yeah I know exactly who it was.' They said 'who' and I said, 'You lot.' I told them they'd taken it off my partner who was more than capable and insured to drive it home. He ended up paying £16 for a taxi from Magor services. Eventually the police hung up on me."
Before getting a loan from her mother, Vicky feared she would be unable to pay the charge, which would have prevented her getting to two HGV driver job interviews this week in Newport and Bristol. She was concerned that paying it would leave her struggling to feed herself and her son for weeks. "He's going through his exams so he doesn't need this stress either," she added.
She believes the protest was self-defeating because of the fuel use, but she said: "I think we've done good by getting it in the media and telling them exactly why we're doing it. We want a big tax cut, not just on fuel. We pay tax on every aspect of our lives. They're gonna tax us to go to the toilet next. It's road tax, council tax, TV licence. They're getting money from us left, right and centre."
Speaking before she paid the charge, Vicky said: "I told Darren this morning that if I get my car back I will go back next week and do it again. Even if they fine me they can't get it because I'm not working. I would probably have to pay them a penny a month. It's no use in them fining me. And now they've taken my car I can't even get a job. I'm furious."
Chief Superintendent Tom Harding said: “The right to protest under UK law must be balanced with the rights of the wider community who may be affected. By implementing restrictions on the moving protest, we aimed to balance the rights of the protesters and the public and local communities. Along with partners, we identified that failing to comply with the legal notice requirements would lead to emergency and critical services being restricted therefore posing a risk to local communities, action was taken when it was deemed these risks existed.
“Custody is a place of work and under Welsh law you cannot smoke in a workplace. Every cell is thoroughly cleaned before being allocated to new detainees. While in custody, we attempt to cater for all dietary requirements and where that is not possible, we offer to purchase the appropriate food outside of custody. On more than one occasion, Ms Stamper was offered food that was available in custody and officers offered to purchase food of her choice from outside of custody. We would invite Ms Stamper to get in touch directly and would be happy to review any complaints.”
Vicky told WalesOnline she has made a complaint about the force's treatment of her. You can read more stories about the fuel cost crisis here.
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