Henchmen working for the divisive Reform leader were seen on camera manhandling a retired engineer who was trying to park in a disabled spot to drop off his wife in Shetland
Nigel Farage’s henchmen were captured on camera manhandling a man over a parking row after the Reform leader’s car was left in a disabled spot.
Pensioner Don Whittle, who suffers from heart failure, rheumatoid arthritis and spinal stenosis, and has a pacemaker fitted, said he was grabbed by thugs working for the MP while he was in Shetland ahead of the Scottish elections on May 7. Locals have been left furious by the behaviour by some of his associates during the tour, with Don saying he needed a disabled spot to drop off his wife, only to find it occupied by Farage’s vehicle.
He said: “I’m disabled and I take offence to people that park in disabled spots who are not disabled. I went down to take photographs of them parked there and so they started to move off and decided to park on a corner on double yellow lines. I photographed them there.”
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Don told the Daily Record he had tried to walk between the cars to take pictures of them blocking the road when he was physically confronted and wasn’t allowed back on the pavement by a Reform guard.
He said: “This clown wouldn’t let me through. And I couldn’t go through on the pavement because of the protesters. I just wanted to get through to the front to take pictures of them blocking the street.” The move has seen a local labour candidate accuse Farage of having “bulldozed” into Shetland “and start picking fights with local people”.
Don added that when he went and tried to make a point to the Reform group, he was “manhandled across the road” and away from the cars.
He said: “I walked past them and went and stood in front of his car, thinking, ‘Well, if you can stand and block me, I can stand and block you.’ So I stood there. And two of his henchmen came out and manhandled me across the road out of the way. They weren’t considerate.”
“They didn’t say, ‘Would you mind moving out of the way?’ They didn’t even ask. They just grabbed me. I said, ‘I’m disabled.’ And they didn’t care.”
Shetland Labour candidate John Erskine, who witnessed the clash, said it was “shocking” to watch the politician “bulldoze” into the area and “start picking fights”. He said: “A disabled pensioner was unable to access a space he needed, and when he challenged it, he was met with heavy-handed behaviour from Farage’s entourage.”