My name is Neil Curtis. I am 60 years old, husband to my wonderful wife Claire, father to my beautiful daughters Laura (28) and Sophie (17) and very proud grandfather of Charlie (5), Emily (3) and William (1). They are the people that have given me the support and strength necessary to reach this stage of my fight to expose the wrongs and injustices of my previous employers.

I am a qualified Local Council Clerk/Proper Officer and was employed by a Local Council as their Chief Executive.

So far, on employment and criminal cases I have spent over £6500 on Solicitors fees, Tribunal Fees and Legal Aid Contributions. 

I am seeking crowdfunding to help with the costs involved in retaining a solicitor to prepare for an Employment Tribunal and the costs of instructing a barrister to represent me at that Tribunal.

My solicitor Claire Rolston of CLR Law has estimated that those costs will be in the region of £10000 to £12000.

The fact that I have to spend this money arises entirely because I tried to draw my employers (a local council) attention to the fact that they were breaching the human rights of local residents.

Dog Control Orders, excluding dog walkers from public spaces, had been put in place without publication of the correct public notices. The orders are therefore not lawful and any person fined for breaking them could be entitled to compensation.

An exclusion order, in the name of the council, had served on one resident excluding them from certain public spaces and council offices. There was however, no record that the council had ever considered or decided to issue that exclusion order. The order had not been signed and, to all intents and purposes, it appeared possible that the order had been issued without council approval by a single councillor or group of councillors.

The council and its councillors refused to address the issues and have stifled any debate or disclosure. So far they have successfully buried the issues and are trying their very utmost to ensure that the issues stay hidden.

The only way that I can force these issues to be aired in public and ultimately corrected, is to force the council into the public arena of an Employment Tribunal and/or Crown Court.

I need your assistance to ensure that this can happen as my resources are limited.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"

JFK Misquoting Edmund Burke

Having brought my concerns to the attention of the Council I was dismissed  and subsequently arrested.

Councillors are protected by Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 s. 39 from any personal liability for their actions provided they do not act recklessly or unlawfully.

I believe that the councillors of this council have behaved in such a manner that they have stepped outside the umbrella of protection provided by Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 s. 39. Thus they, rather than residents, should be liable for any financial penalty imposed on the council.

Local councils obtain their income from the annual precept, a local tax paid by every household in the council area. The only was a council can pay any financial penalty imposed on it is via funds raised from residents through the precept. In effect, residents can end up paying for the bad decisions of a few councillors.

If I win my cases I will: -

• Work with residents of the Council area to hold Councillors personally liable for any financial penalty imposed on the Council. This will ensure that residents are not unfairly penalised by inappropriate and unlawful actions of individual councillors.
• Work to ensure that the person subject of the exclusion order receives confirmation that it was defective and, assist them in any action they wish to take against the council or councillors.
• Work to ensure that the all unlawful Dog Control Order (DCO) signs are removed so that Dog walkers can access areas from which they have unlawfully been excluded.
• Assist any person wishing to act against the council or councillors for any detriment suffered due to the unlawful DCO’s
• Try and recompense my family for the stress, strain and financial hardship my attempt to right the errors of this council and its councillors has, and continues to, put them through.

I would like to publicly record my thanks and gratitude to: -

• Claire Rolston of CLR Law for her help, advice and assistance in pursuing my unfair dismissal claim through the Employment Tribunal Service.
• Ian Smith and Employment Adviser from the Society of Local Council Clerks who has advised and guided me through my employers "unique" discipline procedures. 

Thank you for having the interest and patience in reading to this point.

Please accept my sincere thanks for your donation.

Please help me to promote this crowdjustice appeal by forwarding this link https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/neilcurtis/ to all your Facebook, Twitter and Email contacts.

Thank You

Neil Curtis