Coronavirus lockdown legal challenge smashes £250,000 target

A legal challenge by a contractor industry stalwart to have coronavirus lockdown declared unlawful and the rights of people and firms restored has smashed its £250,000 funding target.

Entitled ‘Legal challenge to UK govt lockdown,’ the campaign by SJD Accountancy’s ex-owner Simon Dolan, boss of Dolan Accountancy, hit the quarter-of-a-million mark yesterday.

Having met both the £30,000 and £125,000 initial targets, plus the £250,000 main target, a ‘stretch’ target of £325,000 has now been set, pending a date for the challenge to be heard.

'Groundswell'

“A quarter of a million [pounds] is quite a landmark for a Crowdjustice fund”, a spokeswoman for the campaign said in a statement to ContractorUK.

“Donations have predominantly come from individuals and ordinary members of the public, with most being £10 and £20. So it’s been a groundswell of public support.”

The latest donations indicate that the campaign was buoyed by prime minister Boris Johnson’s new edict for schools to ensure pupils wear face coverings in communal areas, in an attempt to slow the spread of covid-19.

'Lockdown has gone too far'

“Please keep going with this,” said Lyndsey, donating £20, “it's gone too far now with the schools ruling.”

Even before the PM’s edict, the campaign spokeswoman said Mr Dolan was “very vocally against” the prior, yet still in-force order for shoppers and public transport users to wear the coverings.

In fact, the businessman used his newly formed ‘Keep Britain Free’ group to last month run a peaceful protest in London’s Hyde Park against the mandated wearing of face coverings.

'Serious imposition'

“The government’s decision to unilaterally lockdown the United Kingdom marks the most serious imposition on personal freedoms in recent history,” Mr Dolan said yesterday, echoing the Court of Appeal judgment of August 4th.

He added: “Citizens in Leicester and Greater Manchester continue to be unlawfully stripped of their freedoms and liberties, and Birmingham could be the next city to be forced into a local lockdown.

“With the possibility of further restrictions looming over all our heads, it is only right that the government is held to account and the legality of its actions questioned.”

Mr Dolan also spoke yesterday of being “incredibly grateful” to the campaign’s donors, who include teachers, care workers, nurses, shopkeepers and pub landlords, saying he was thankful for the “unprecedented public support”.