Hackney Citizen appeals for funds to fight legal battle against Council
The Hackney Citizen recently launched an appeal to help pay legal costs resulting from our dispute with Hackney Council over our publication of audio recordings of a Council employee wrongly informing a caller that there was no Conservative party candidate standing in the mayoral election.
We are very grateful to the dozens of people from across the country who responded to the appeal. However, we are still approximately £500 short of the amount needed to pay our legal bills, and so we’re renewing our call for donations.
The episode began when we were alerted to evidence that the Council had been telling callers that there was no Conservative candidate standing for mayor of Hackney in the 6 May elections.
The candidate himself, Andrew Boff, had received emails from concerned residents who told him that Hackney Council’s call centre staff had told them that there was no Conservative candidate on the ballot. Mr Boff then phoned the council as an anonymous caller to hear what enquirers were being told, and was himself informed that there was no Conservative mayoral candidate.
We obtained copies of the audio clips of the phone call and posted them on our website. On the day of the elections, we received a letter from the Council’s Legal and Democratic Services department requesting that we remove the recordings, and stating that it would apply for an court injunction and seek legal costs if we did not comply with its request.
We left the recordings where they still remain, and sought legal advice.
Meanwhile, in a statement from the Council, the Director of Customer and Corporate Services, Belinda Black, apologised for the fact that incorrect information had been provided, but defended the mistake on the grounds that “Mr Boff persisted in asking the staff member to say whether or not he was a candidate, the incorrect response was given as this was a technical issue beyond the knowledge of the staff member.”
Mr Boff responded, “How many calls did the Council receive about my exclusion from the booklet before they started reading from the script that they provided to staff after my complaint?”
The Citizen took the view that it was in the public interest to disclose the way the Council was dealing with the issue, as evidenced by the audio clips and the emails received by Boff. Many others agreed. The case received widespread attention in the media, and on 14 May Private Eye posted the audio clips on its own website “in solidarity with the Hackney Citizen.”
However, we have incurred substantial legal costs because of the Council’s threat. If you’d like to offer financial support to our cause, we’d be very grateful.
Please donate by sending a cheque payable to The Hackney Citizen Ltd to:
The Hackney Citizen
9 Perseverance Works,
38 Kingsland Road,
London E2 8DD
or by using the ‘donate’ button in the sidebar.
Many thanks for your support.
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