NICK Freeman, the celebrity lawyer dubbed ‘Mr Loophole’, has declined an invitation to act to act for drivers bidding for refunds of fines for failure to pay the Mersey Gateway toll.
Although Mr Freeman has been urging motorists to ask for refunds for cost of their journeys between Widnes and Runcorn tweeted that he would not be taking up the case.
The solicitor renown for getting celebrities off motoring offences has said a mistake in the bridge’s charging order meant the £2 toll charge was not legally enforceable.
He said the mistake was a “catastrophic blunder” and said the charging authority, Halton Council, would need to dig deep into its pockets to reimburse motorists in a series of tweets.
Revealing he would not take the case he tweeted following a request to represent the motorists from the Scrap Mersey Tolls campaign committee member John McGoldrick, saying: “Mr McGoldrick, I’m flattered that you only think I act for celebs, but not true. I act for anyone who requires robust, quality criminal defence. I’m afraid I don’t deal with civil matters.”
Mr McGoldrick had said people would love for Mr Freeman to come on board but were sceptical if he actually could because they thought he only worked for celebrities.
However, are still considering legal action and have written to local MPs requesting for them to press the Government to act.
The Transport Penalty Tribunal ruling, upheld last week after a review hearing, applied to five motorists who contested their penalty charge notices.
This was because they had either not seen the signs or were expecting to see a toll plaza so were unaware of the need to pay online or by phone.
The TPT then discovered that the council had not specified the price of the toll charge clearly enough in the Mersey Gateway Road Charging Order (RUSCO).
It had only specified a range of what the charge could be, for example £0- £2, which the TPT found to be in breach of the Transport Act.
