A father-of-three who admitted encouraging others to vandalise Ulez cameras walked free from court on Wednesday.
Electrician Joseph Nicholls, 43, of Foots Cray High Street, Sidcup, was given a prison sentence of 10 months, suspended for 18 months – meaning he only faces jail if he reoffends during the next year and a half.
Woolwich Crown Court was told that he had sent a threatening email on May 5 last year to Transport for London’s Ulez contractor Yunex, whose staff were erecting the ultra-low emission zone cameras that enable TfL to enforce Mayor Sadiq Khan’s clean air scheme.
In the email, he called one Yunex employee a “smelly c***” and added: “If I see that group of failed electricians, I will get out of my car and smash each and every one of you in the face.”
He also allowed his home to be used as a “hub” by Ulez opponents who were part of a Facebook group called “Action against unfair Ulez, LTNs and 20mph nonsense”.
He was revealed to have received three previous court cautions, including one in 2017 for threatening a rail company.
After the hour-long sentencing on Wednesday, TfL described Nicholls’ actions as “morally reprehensible” as they had atempted to prevent Londoners from breathing cleaner air.
Nicholls had pleaded guilty last month at Woolwich Crown Court to publishing a Facebook post in April last year that encouraged “criminal damage to or theft of Ulez cameras and/or components”.
He also admitted sending a threatening email to Yunex Traffic.
He had been warned by the judge in last month’s hearing that “all sentencing options” remained open.
But the judge at Wednesday’s hearing, Recorder Andrew Hammond, took into account Nicholls’ efforts to rehabilitate himself and the impact sending him to jail would have on his three daughters who are aged 14, 11 and nine. He said Nicholls had “genuine remorse” for his offences.
But he said there was a need for a strong enough sentence to act as a deterrent to others. The court was told there had been an “increasing prevalence of vandalism”, with 174 attacks - 56 cameras had been stolen, 84 had their cables cut and 34 had been spray-painted.
Judge Hammond sentenced Nicholls to 10 months for the Facebook post and 18 weeks for sending the threatening email, with the suspended sentences to run concurrently.
The judge told Nicholls: “The rights and wrongs of the Ulez policy are not a matter for this court, but in any event this case is not really about the Ulez. It’s effectively about the rule of law.”
He said the email threat was akin to a public order offence. “This was a deliberate attempt on your part to intimidate other people,” the judge said.
“These people who received this [email] comunication and were threatened were essentially employees performing something akin to a public service. They have the right to perform their job without fear, intimidation or threats of violence.
“What is at the heart of this offending is poor temper control and poor conspiratorial thinking on your part.”
The judge ordered Nicholls to pay £1,630 costs and £5,000 compensation to Yunex. He has to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and to attend 15 days of “rehabilitation activity”.
He said: “Let me make this crystal clear. If you don’t complete these requirements or if you comit any other offence within the next 18 months, you will be brought back to court and you can expect a custodial sentence to be activated in whole or in part.”
Prosecutor Charles Evans told the court that Nichols had reposted a Facebook post that gave details of which tools to use to dismantle the cameras. Yunex has since changed the bolts to make them harder to vandalise.
Two or three cameras were vandalised within half a mile of Nicholls’ home. He said the Facebook post included a “photo of a gloved hand” holding a Ulez camera in what was later found to be Nicholls’ kitchen. “It’s likely that the defendant at least knew of the offence,” Mr Evans said.
Judge Hammond said: “In this period, 174 cameras were subject to some sort of attack. You are not responsible for all of these. You yourself say you have not damaged any specific Ulez camera. But that is in the context in which you committed this offence. You were well aware of that, and you chose to propagate that.”
Nicholls rushed from court and covered his face with a piece of paper as he was driven away, in a bid to prevent the Evening Standard taking his picture.
Claire Cooper, defending, told the court that Nicholls was an “ordinarily highly responsible and hard-working man” whose “dislike and distrust” of the Ulez led to him committing the “most foolhardy of offences”. She said he also had to contend with “fevered press interest in this case”.
She said: “His accommodation, where he lives alone, became a hub for others that were involved in the dismantling of cameras. They would convene at his accommodation and discuss disruption that could be caused, including protests.
“He personally hadn’t been out on the streets taking cameras apart.”
Ms Cooper said Nicholls became involved with anti-Ulez activists after his grandfather was widowed. He said the £12.50-a-day zone meant that Nicholls and his younger sister could spend less time with someone he saw as a father figure, Nicholls having being taken into foster care as a child when his parents split up.
Ms Cooper said: “Any loss of liberty will not only impact him but affect those three daughters very detrimentally indeed.”
TfL has about 3,700 Ulez cameras that are used to enforce the zone. A substantial number were damaged in the run-up to the expansion.
The court was told that each camera cost about £9,000, including installation costs.
A “number of component parts ofUlez cameras” were found at Nicholls’ home when police executed a search warrant.
A TfL spokesperson said: “We welcome this conviction. This was a morally reprehensible attempt to disrupt a scheme that is helping millions of Londoners to breathe cleaner air.
“Toxic air leads to children growing up with stunted lungs and is linked to people developing dementia, cancer and other serious health conditions. Most poignantly it is attributed to thousands of premature deaths.
“We hope this sentence will act as a warning to those considering breaking the law and engaging in acts that could result in serious harm to themselves and others.
“The Ulez continues to operate successfully London-wide and all vandalised cameras are repaired and replaced as soon as possible.”
Earlier this week the Standard revealed that the targeting of the cameras remains an ongoing problem for TfL, with other offenders having been convicted or facing prosecution.
Nicholls had pleaded guilty last month to “intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence” by making posts on social media – the Facebook post – prior to May 10 last year.
According to the court charge sheet, this act or acts “were capable of encouraging or assisting others in the commission of one or more offences, namely criminal damage to or theft of Ulez cameras and/or components”.
He also pleaded guilty to “sending an electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety” on May 5 last year. This related to the email he sent to Yunex Traffic Ltd.
