20-05-2025
Road rage Labour councillor drove his car at man during protest over school bus service
A Labour councillor shocked onlookers when he drove his car deliberately at a man filming a protest over school bus cuts.
Raging Pat Patton then got out of his Hyundai Santa Fe and told victim Graham Cloughley to put his camera away.
Patton, of Bellshill, Lanarkshire, now faces disciplinary action from his party after he was found guilty of assault.
Airdrie Sheriff Court heard the incident happened in nearby Coatbridge on June 26 last year, Patton's 59th birthday.
A small group of parents and around 10 children had gathered to voice anger at North Lanarkshire Council making changes to school bus services.
The protest took place outside the general election campaign HQ of Frank McNally, who was a Labour councillor and the party's candidate for Coatbridge and Bellshill and went on to win the seat.
Patton left the building and emerged from the car park in his vehicle.
Mr Cloughley, 46, told the court he was filming the protest and walked past the front of the councillor's car while it was not moving.
He said: 'His car had been stopped for approximately five seconds. He then looked at me and accelerated towards me, striking my knees.
'This caused me to move back and then jerk forward.
'I wasn't injured but I was shocked, taken aback that someone would do that.
'Councillor Patton then got out of his car and tried to grab my phone.'
Mr Cloughley's phone footage was shown in court. He could be heard telling Patton he had 'no right to run me down'.
The councillor replied: 'You have no right to record me.'
Asked if Patton's car could have hit him by accident, Mr Cloughley told prosecutor Fergus Warner: 'If it had been an accident he would have got out and apologised, but that didn't happen.
'He was aggressive, clearly enraged and unapologetic.'
Mr Cloughley's wife, Marissa, 48, said she was standing behind Patton's car and didn't see it hit her husband.
But she told the court: 'It moved quite fast and I saw Graham lurch forward... I was really alarmed. Pat Patton was aggressive and angry.'
Another parent, Mark Feeney, 52, added: 'The car kind of lunged forward and hit Graham on the legs. I had a perfect view of it.'
Patton, who was elected as a councillor in 2022, said in evidence that he stopped his car when he saw Mr Cloughley walk towards him.
He added: 'The car never came into contact with him because I stopped.
'I got out and put up my hand to stop him filming. I had no intention of taking his phone from him.'
Fellow Labour councillor Maureen Devlin said she was only a few feet away and insisted Patton's car didn't strike Mr Cloughley.
She told defence lawyer Stephen MacBride: 'If it had I would have seen it.'
Sheriff Walter Mercer said he wasn't convinced that Patton's car had struck Mr Cloughley but concluded: 'It's beyond reasonable doubt that he assaulted Mr Cloughley by accelerating and driving the vehicle towards him.'
The sheriff said he considered the councillor's conduct 'towards the lower end of the scale' and fined Patton, who has no previous convictions, £420.
