The chair of a local charity who came to loggerheads with a traffic warden over a parking ticket has been sentenced in the courts after pleading guilty to a public order offence.
62-year-old Garry Oates, who refers to himself as Captain Oates, appeared in court back in August and pleaded not guilty to using threatening/abusive/insulting words/behaviour to cause harassment/alarm/distress against an Isle of Wight traffic warden.
Oates, who heads up Blue Seas Protection on the Island, is said to have become aggressive towards the civil enforcement officer at the rear of his property on Fort Street on 26th April this year.
The case went to trial last Thursday (6th October), where Oates pleaded guilty to a slightly different charge of using threatening/abusive words/behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
The 62-year-old was supported in the court by his wife and 2 Blue Seas Protection volunteers.
Magistrates handed Garry Oates a 6-month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £325 costs.
An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson has told Island Echo:
“The Isle of Wight Council has a zero tolerance policy to any abuse or violence towards staff in any setting. It is reassuring to know our staff, who at times work in difficult situations are supported by law enforcement and the courts.”
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What an absolute waste of time, resources and money. This guy parks at the back of his property and gets in an argument.. ends up going to court whilst burglers, drug dealers and pedo’s get away with it no questions asked. £325! You get a lesser fine for getting caught with Cannabis.
Sounds like he your mate. Yes it sounds unfair by no one deserves to be abused.
I agree which your assessment…very, very troubling set of circumstances
What a waste of space he is, should be in jail
No need to abuse the traffic wardens just throw the tickets in the nearest garbage bin, no contract! We the people own the roads not the parasitic council..
That’s rubbish. I guess you’re the kind of person who doesn’t pay car tax or insurance?
Traffic Wardens regularly fail to prevent drivers from blocking the access, no tickets or removal of offending cars are issued. In order to ‘abate the nuisance’ Capt Oates (who has been verified as a Captain), was forced to use his own vehicle to sit on top of the only way in/out of his home, so that it remained an emergency access for family members with confirmed health conditions. The ‘Big Boss’ at IOWC told Traffic Wardens to repeatedly ticket his car, over 18 were issued in total, and in July 2022, Northampton County Court threw back the only ticket that IOWC have ever tried to push through the Penalty Notice system, as Capt Oates had presented a strong enough argument to repel IOWC’s harassing and offensive ticket.
I was reading this comment until I reached the phrase “Captain Oates (who has been verified as a Captain)”.
I’m going out. I may be some time.
Titus,one of the old breed.
does captain Oats lock you in the garage aswell?
Despite numerous, polite, letters of complaint, IOWC never responded, instead they deployed more tickets using numerous Traffic Wardens. The day before this offence occurred, Capt Oates was told by another Warden that no more tickets would be issued. On the day of the alleged offence, Capt Oates came out of his home to find this Warden again ticketing his car, saying he loved his job and the Big Boss had sent him, the Warden filmed Capt Oates distraught reaction whilst sat in his mobility scooter, which led to a lesser charge finally being brought 10mins before he had to plea with a threat he would go to prison if he pleaded ‘not guilty’. What would you do?
The Big Boss of poor bullied Council worker warden needs to be given a warning and booted out of his job. Sounds like there are more Putin’s around than the one we all know. The same applied to the courts, you will go to prison if you plead not guilty – what is happening on the Isle of Wight and in the Council, we need a massive investigation into both these areas. Where is our MP when he can actually be useful for a change?
This is institutional intimidation and harassment and the IOWC is guilty of this offence, but the Court refused to hear all of the background which led up to this ‘offense’ of trying to defend your home and family. Please find out the facts before criticising, Blue Seas Protection will happily answer all of your questions, just contact us for full details. Equally, if you are facing a similar situation with IOWC please contact us for support. To view the full statement, just in case Island Echo can be bothered to post ‘balanced’ journalism, please visit Blue Seas Protection website.
Because the Blue Seas website is going to be completely impartial isn’t it.
Come on… in the grand scheme of things how the hell is this prosecution in the public interest. It may have missed some people’s attention, but parking tickets are a tax imposed upon us. Parking charges are a tax. This is not a crime, and certainly does not warrant wasting already scant resources. Personally, I’d sleep better at night if the CPS and council stopped wasting time and money on civil matters and concentrate on bringing criminals to justice. I’ve seen first-hand how nasty these provocative agents for the council operate. If I was him, I’d appeal the conviction, the council obviously have (our) plenty of money to burn.
Seem to remember this one, used his car to injure a volunteer marshall at sandown airport a few months back, did that ever go to court?
Yet traffic wardens walk past the large council van that parks on my road that’s way too big for the space no ticket issued
A “Traffic Warden”.
I thought they were called a Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) nowadays?
A few years ago I was walking down Mill Hill Road in Cowes when I spotted a CEO.
I overtook him and noticed that, as usual, there was a car parked outside the launderette where there are double yellow lines. The car’s near side wheels were on the footway and the offside wheels on the road. Two offences!
I popped into the launderette and warned the occupants that a traffic warden type person was fast approaching.
A woman looked up and said “Oh! No worries! He’s a friend of ours”.
He is an odious little man that is running a con job.
Terrible should be ashamed
Jeez, that’s a bit over the top when you think of all the graffiti, arson, knife crime and vandalism going on here, and the pathetic sentences handed out for those.
The clown is an arrogant useless tosser and always has been, self styled “captain” with no qualifications.
I do not think the people who have replied on her can read.. He was charged for using ‘ abusive words and threatening behaviour ‘ nothing about a parking ticket.. sadly too many people instantly’ slag off’ anyone who speaks.. .. I mentioned to a car driver the other week as he was exiting his car, ‘Excuse me, but you should not park there, You are blocking a car park entrance !’
His reply, ‘ F- ck off ! Mind your own business ! ‘ How nice.. what a pleasant pri ck. Too many do the same , first words are always F- off…
I don’t understand why people are defending this man when he himself has pleaded guilty to ‘using threatening/abusive words/behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress’?
And I believe he’s back in Court again next month, charged with another offence: ‘driving his car at – and injuring – a traffic marshal during a car boot sale at Sandown Airport’.
I’m not sure I’d want anything to do with a charity whose chairperson conducts himself in this manner.
Most traffick wardens have a bad attitude