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SOUTH Yorkshire Police is to pay thousands of pounds in compensation to environmental campaigners after wrongfully using anti-trade union laws to arrest them.
Sheffield campaigners were arrested under the Trades Union and Labour Relations Act after they tried to stop a tree-felling operation by council contractors in 2016 and 2017.
The charges were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.
In August this year the Independent Office for Police Conduct upheld complaints from six of those arrested and ruled that South Yorkshire Police had “no grounds” for using the anti-union legislation.
Seven campaigners are suing South Yorkshire Police and out-of-court settlements of around £3,000 each are believed to have been agreed.
A spokeswoman for South Yorkshire Police said: “We have agreed, or are in the process of agreeing, a private settlement with those individuals affected by this matter.”
Other cases are still pending. The taxpayer will foot the bill for the force’s blunder.
