VICTIMS
**Isle of Wight Ferry Market (Statutory Tort, Nuisance)**
**Victim Types**:
– **Residents**: Affected by high fares (8% increase in 2025, web:17,24) and cancellations (post:2), causing economic and personal disruption (e.g., missed appointments).
– **Businesses**: Tourism and retail sectors harmed by reduced footfall due to unreliable services and high costs (web:17,20,24).
– **Future Victims**: Potential new residents or businesses deterred by ongoing ferry issues, impacting economic growth.
**Prospective Class Members**:
1. **Bob Hamilton (Resident, Strathaven)**: Cited in The Herald for comparing Isle of Wight’s reliable ferries to Scotland’s unreliable ones, indicating awareness of ferry issues (web:19).
– **Contact**: No direct email found; contact via The Herald letters editor (letters@theherald.co.uk) or Strathaven community groups (e.g., Strathaven Community Council, info@strathavencommunitycouncil.co.uk).
– **Outreach**: Email The Herald or post on X targeting Strathaven residents (@StrathavenCC).
2. **Peter Wright (Resident, West Kilbride)**: Criticized CalMac’s unreliability, relevant for cross-referencing Isle of Wight issues (web:19).
– **Contact**: No direct email; contact via West Kilbride Community Council (enquiries@westkilbridecommunitycouncil.org).
– **Outreach**: Email community council or engage via LinkedIn groups like “West Kilbride Community.”
3. **Isle of Wight Businesses (Unnamed)**: County Press reports £5–10 million annual losses from ferry issues (web:17,24).
– **Contact**: No individual names; reach via Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce (info@iwchamber.co.uk, 01983 520777).
– **Outreach**: Email Chamber or attend events like Business Expo (iwchamber.co.uk).
4. **Future Victims**: Prospective residents/businesses deterred by ferry costs, identifiable via estate agents or job boards.
– **Contact**: Contact estate agents like Spence Willard (info@spencewillard.co.uk, 01983 200880).
– **Outreach**: Post surveys on X with hashtags #IsleofWightFerries or #SolentTravel.
**Relevant Associations**:
– **Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce**: Represents businesses impacted by ferry issues.
– **Contact**: John Irvine (CEO), info@iwchamber.co.uk, 23 High Street, Newport, PO30 1SS, 01983 520777.
– **Outreach**: Email or request meeting via website form (iwchamber.co.uk). Best via direct email to John Irvine or LinkedIn outreach (@IWChamber).
– **Visit Isle of Wight**: Tourism board affected by ferry disruptions.
– **Contact**: Will Myles (Managing Director), info@visitwight.org, The Old School, Newport, PO30 5JH, 01983 521555.
– **Outreach**: Email or engage at tourism events (visitwight.pro).
**Gateshead Flyover (Judicial Review, Nuisance)**
**Victim Types**:
– **Businesses**: Retail and services facing £2.3 million monthly losses from traffic disruptions (web:4,11).
– **Residents**: Affected by noise, dust, and access issues during demolition (March 2025, GATESHEAD1_250429).
– **Future Victims**: Businesses deterred from Gateshead due to prolonged regeneration uncertainties.
**Prospective Class Members**:
1. **Gateshead Town Centre Businesses (Unnamed)**: Chronicle Live reports significant losses from Flyover disruptions (web:4).
– **Contact**: No individual names; reach via Gateshead Business Network (info@gatesheadbusinessnetwork.co.uk).
– **Outreach**: Email network or attend Gateshead Business Forum events (gatesheadbusinessnetwork.co.uk).
2. **Five Bridges Skatepark Users**: Community group impacted by demolition risks (GATESHEAD1_250429).
– **Contact**: No names; contact via Gateshead Council community engagement (enquiries.cbs@gateshead.gov.uk).
– **Outreach**: Post on X with #GatesheadFlyover or engage via local forums.
3. **Future Victims**: Potential investors deterred by regeneration delays.
– **Contact**: Reach via North East England Chamber of Commerce (info@neechamber.co.uk, 0191 386 1133).
– **Outreach**: Email Chamber or use LinkedIn (@NEEChamber).
**Relevant Associations**:
– **North East England Chamber of Commerce**: Represents businesses affected by Flyover disruptions.
– **Contact**: John McCabe (CEO), info@neechamber.co.uk, Aykley Heads, Durham, DH1 5TS, 0191 386 1133.
– **Outreach**: Email or attend Chamber events (neechamber.co.uk). Best via direct email or LinkedIn.
– **Gateshead Business Network**: Local business group impacted by demolition.
– **Contact**: No named contact; info@gatesheadbusinessnetwork.co.uk, 0191 433 3000.
– **Outreach**: Email or engage at networking events (gatesheadbusinessnetwork.co.uk).
**A1 Cancellation (Judicial Review, Breach of Contract)**
**Victim Types**:
– **Contractors**: Balfour Beatty, Kier Group facing losses from termination (web:8).
– **Businesses**: North East firms impacted by £150 million economic loss (web:8).
– **Future Victims**: Businesses deterred by delayed connectivity.
**Prospective Class Members**:
1. **Balfour Beatty**: Contractor for A1 dualling, affected by cancellation (NH1_250429).
– **Contact**: Leo Quinn (CEO), info@balfourbeatty.com, 5 Churchill Place, London, E14 5HU, 020 7216 6800.
– **Outreach**: Email or request meeting via website (balfourbeatty.com).
2. **Kier Group**: Contractor facing A1 losses, linked to 2023 CMA bid-rigging (web:8).
– **Contact**: Andrew Davies (CEO), info@kier.co.uk, 2nd Floor, Optimum House, Salford, M50 3XP, 01767 355000.
– **Outreach**: Email or engage via LinkedIn (@KierGroup).
3. **North East Businesses (Unnamed)**: Transport North East reports £150 million losses (web:8).
– **Contact**: Reach via North East England Chamber of Commerce (info@neechamber.co.uk).
– **Outreach**: Email Chamber or post on X with #A1Dualling.
**Relevant Associations**:
– **North East England Chamber of Commerce**: Represents affected businesses.
– **Contact**: John McCabe (CEO), info@neechamber.co.uk, 0191 386 1133.
– **Outreach**: Email or attend events (neechamber.co.uk).
– **North East Combined Authority (NECA)**: Oversees regional transport impacts.
– **Contact**: Kim McGuinness (Mayor), info@northeast-ca.gov.uk, Quadrant, Cobalt Business Park, North Tyneside, NE27 0BY, 0191 424 7800.
– **Outreach**: Email or engage at NECA consultations (northeast-ca.gov.uk).
**Scottish Ferry Procurement (Judicial Review)**
**Victim Types**:
– **Residents**: Islanders (e.g., Arran, South Uist) facing disruptions from cancellations (10,809 over 851 days, web:1,5,13,15,16,18,24).
– **Businesses**: Hotels and retailers losing revenue due to unreliable ferries (web:13).
– **UK Shipyards**: Babcock, BAE Systems harmed by £200 million in lost contracts (web:15,17).
– **Future Victims**: Islanders/businesses facing ongoing delays (e.g., MV Lord of the Isles replacement, web:17).
**Prospective Class Members**:
1. **Ena and Raymond Burke (Arran Residents)**: Cited by Sky News for missing medical appointments due to ferry cancellations (web:5,18).
– **Contact**: No direct email; reach via Arran Community Council (info@arrancommunitycouncil.org.uk).
– **Outreach**: Email council or post on X with #ArranFerries.
2. **John Baraclough (Arran Resident)**: Reported ferry disruptions for cancer treatment (web:10,11).
– **Contact**: No direct email; contact via Arran Community Council (info@arrancommunitycouncil.org.uk).
– **Outreach**: Email or engage via local forums.
3. **David Henderson (Arran Farmer)**: Cited financial losses from ferry delays (web:18).
– **Contact**: No direct email; reach via Arran Community Council or NFU Scotland (info@nfus.org.uk, 0131 472 4000).
– **Outreach**: Email NFU or post on X with #ScottishFerries.
4. **Barbara Crawford (Arran Hotelier)**: Reported business losses from ferry issues (web:10,11).
– **Contact**: No direct email; reach via Arran Tourism Group (info@visitarran.com).
– **Outreach**: Email or attend tourism events (visitarran.com).
5. **Olivia MacLellan (South Uist Resident)**: Cited in The New York Times for feeling “victimized” by ferry disruptions (web:13).
– **Contact**: No direct email; contact via South Uist Community Council (contact@southuistcommunity.org).
– **Outreach**: Email or use X with #SouthUistFerries.
6. **Stephen Peteranna (South Uist Hotelier)**: Reported hotel closures due to cancellations (web:13).
– **Contact**: Isles Hotel Group, info@isleshotelgroup.co.uk, South Uist, HS8 5SS, 01878 710200.
– **Outreach**: Email or call directly.
7. **Babcock International**: Lost ferry contracts to foreign yards (web:15,17).
– **Contact**: David Lockwood (CEO), info@babcockinternational.com, 33 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 1QX, 020 7355 5300.
– **Outreach**: Email or request meeting via website (babcockinternational.com).
8. **BAE Systems**: Harmed by procurement decisions (web:15,17).
– **Contact**: Charles Woodburn (CEO), info@baesystems.com, 6 Carlton Gardens, London, SW1Y 5AD, 01252 373232.
– **Outreach**: Email or engage via LinkedIn (@BAESystemsplc).
**Relevant Associations**:
– **Scottish Islands Federation**: Represents island communities affected by ferry disruptions.
– **Contact**: Rhoda Grant (Patron), info@scottishislandsfederation.co.uk, 0131 348 5000.
– **Outreach**: Email or engage at island forums (scottishislandsfederation.co.uk).
– **NFU Scotland**: Represents farmers like David Henderson.
– **Contact**: John Davidson (CEO), info@nfus.org.uk, Ingliston, Edinburgh, EH28 8LT, 0131 472 4000.
– **Outreach**: Email or attend agricultural events (nfus.org.uk).
– **Scottish Tourism Alliance**: Represents hoteliers like Stephen Peteranna.
– **Contact**: Marc Crothall (CEO), info@scottishtourismalliance.co.uk, 3rd Floor, Glasgow, G2 1RW, 0141 566 9999.
– **Outreach**: Email or engage at STA conferences (scottishtourismalliance.co.uk).
**Outreach Strategy**:
– **Email Campaigns**: Use association contacts for targeted emails, emphasizing economic harm (e.g., £150 million for A1, £5–10 million for Isle of Wight, web:8,17,24).
– **X Engagement**: Post with hashtags (#IsleofWightFerries, #GatesheadFlyover, #A1Dualling, #ScottishFerries) to recruit class members, citing cancellations (post:2) or losses.
– **LinkedIn**: Join groups like “North East Business Network” or “Scottish Islands Community” to connect with victims.
– **Events**: Attend Chamber or tourism events to collect testimonies, ensuring GDPR-compliant consent.
– **FOI Requests**: Use whatdotheyknow.com to gather complaint or impact data from councils/CMA, supporting class formation (web:20).
**Limitations**:
– Individual contact details are scarce due to UK GDPR restrictions; most are unavailable in public sources (web:0–24). Associations are the primary outreach channel.
– I cannot verify real-time contact accuracy or access private data (e.g., resident emails). COCOO must confirm details via direct outreach or FOI.
– Future victims are speculative; COCOO should survey via associations or X.
– Some sources (e.g., The Herald, Sky News) are paywalled, limiting full access (web:5,7,18,19).
This list leverages web and document insights (web:0,1,5,8,10,11,13,15,16,17,18,19,23,24; post:2) to build a robust claimant class for litigation or mediation, aligning with WPI goals.
CAMPAIGN
Our campaign’s first objective is to successfully frame the issues we have uncovered as significant, persistent, and politically embarrassing problems for the responsible government bodies. For the Department for Transport and National Highways, the problem is a systemic failure in project appraisal that led to the irrational cancellation of the A1 dualling project and the demonstrable waste of sixty-eight million pounds of taxpayer money. For Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, the problem is a flawed procurement framework that fails to deliver value for money for the Scottish public. For the regulators overseeing the Isle of Wight market, the problem is a chronic market failure that is harming the island’s economy. Our media campaign, built on our legal notices and evidence dossiers, will make the continuation of this status quo untenable for the senior officials in these organisations.
This public and political pressure forces the acknowledgement of a problem, which in turn creates the internal need for a solution. A government body cannot simply ignore accusations of wasting millions or overseeing a monopoly; they must be seen to be taking action. This is where their internal process converts our campaign pressure into a procurement need. The Department for Transport, for example, will be forced to conclude that it has a recognised weakness in its infrastructure appraisal methodology. This creates a formal need for external expertise to design and implement a new, more robust framework to prevent such a costly failure from happening again. This defined need is what triggers a procurement process, creating the very opportunity we are seeking to exploit.
To win this opportunity, our strategy is to pre-empt their formal tender process with a highly specific, low-value Unsolicited Proposal. This proposal will be designed to be below the threshold for a full competitive tender, allowing for a direct award. We will target the Department for Transport with a proposal for a tightly scoped scoping study. Our argument for bypassing a competitive process will be based on our unique intellectual property and situational knowledge. We will state that our proprietary ‘Growth-Focused Value and Accountability Framework’ is the only methodology that assesses infrastructure not just on narrow cost-benefit terms, but on its true catalytic impact on regional growth and long-term taxpayer value. We will argue that since no other supplier possesses this framework or the deep knowledge gained from our investigation into the A1 failure, a competitive process for this initial diagnostic work would be a false economy.
Our Unsolicited Proposal will therefore contain a detailed Statement of Work for a fixed-price contract. It will define the problem as the specific appraisal failures that led to the A1 cancellation. Our proposed solution is the application of our proprietary framework to diagnose these failures. The key deliverable will be a detailed report identifying the procedural and methodological flaws in the original process and providing a high-level implementation plan for a new, more effective system. We will offer to complete this initial scoping study for a fixed fee just below the public procurement threshold. This makes it a low-risk, easily justifiable first step for the department to take, getting our foot in the door and positioning us as the incumbent expert for any larger, subsequent procurement.
Based on the model provided, our media campaign must be executed in clear, sequential phases. The first phase is Narrative Crystallisation. We will frame the entire GROWTHUK case as a single story about Britain’s unrealised potential. The narrative will be one of dynamic local economies and innovative businesses being shackled by a combination of sclerotic public-sector decision-making and exploitative private monopolies. We will position the Isle of Wight business community, the North East’s industries, and UK shipbuilders as the heroes of this story, with the intransigent government departments and the entrenched ferry operators as the antagonists blocking progress.
The second phase is Dossier Assembly and Targeted Dissemination. We will create three distinct and detailed evidence packs. The ‘Infrastructure Dossier’ will focus on the A1 and Gateshead, highlighting the wasted taxpayer funds and broken promises to the North East. The ‘Maritime Dossier’ will cover both the flawed Scottish procurement and the uncompetitive Isle of Wight market. These dossiers, containing our legal analysis, victim impact statements, and expert commentary, will be sent directly to specifically targeted journalists—national transport correspondents, the Scottish political press, and consumer affairs editors—to ensure maximum impact and informed coverage.
The third and final phase is the Leverage and Action Loop. Every news article or broadcast segment that results from our targeted dissemination will be immediately amplified across our social media channels. This creates a digital echo chamber, driving public awareness and directing traffic to a central campaign website. This website will house our dossiers and, crucially, will feature two prominent calls to action, channelling the public outrage we have generated into tangible support for our compensation and contract projects.
To execute the outreach needed to contact prospective class members, defendants, and partners, we must use a cost-effective alternative to expensive tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator. While no single free tool has the same power, a hybrid approach using several free and ‘freemium’ platforms will achieve our goal.
First, we will use the standard, free version of LinkedIn for initial intelligence gathering. Its search function is powerful enough to allow us to identify key individuals, such as the directors of construction firms affected by the A1 cancellation or the owners of tourism businesses on the Isle of Wight. Once we have a name and a company, we move to the second step.
We will use ‘freemium’ email-finding tools such as Hunter.io or Snov.io. These platforms allow you to input a person’s name and their company’s website domain, and they will provide a verified or highly probable professional email address. Their free plans offer a limited number of credits per month, which is sufficient for the targeted, high-value outreach we need for our contract project and for contacting the defendants and potential mediation partners.
For reaching the broad class of consumers on the Isle of Wight, we will use the advertising platforms of Meta and Google. Both platforms frequently provide introductory sales offers for new advertisers, such as matching initial ad spend with free credits. We can leverage these offers to run a highly targeted and extremely low-cost initial campaign, showing advertisements specifically to people whose location data shows they live on the Isle of Wight, and directing them to our compensation project registration page. This combination of free intelligence gathering, freemium contact finding, and low-cost targeted advertising provides a powerful and affordable toolkit to contact every party relevant to our case.
Our media campaign will be unified under the central theme of “GROWTHUK: Ending the Waste, Unlocking Our Potential.” This narrative, inspired by the principles in the campaign design documents, reframes our specific causes of action as symptoms of a wider national problem: a systemic failure to use public funds and regulate private monopolies effectively to deliver economic growth. Our campaign will identify the key victims and perpetrators to create a clear and compelling story for the public and policymakers.
The primary victims we will champion are the taxpayers whose money has been wasted on projects like the cancelled A1 dualling, the regional businesses in the North East held back by broken infrastructure promises, the consumers and businesses on the Isle of Wight exploited by a ferry duopoly, and the skilled UK workers bypassed by the flawed Scottish ferry procurement. The perpetrators are the indecisive government departments and opaque public bodies responsible for this mismanagement, as well as the private monopolies that profit from a lack of regulation. Our core message will be that this combination of public sector inefficiency and private sector exploitation is a direct brake on the UK’s economic growth. We will use a pressure campaign model to create a pincer movement of legal challenges and sustained, critical media coverage, targeting both national and regional press with stories that highlight the human and economic cost of these failures.
To gather the prospective class members for our collective tort claim, specifically for the Isle of Wight compensation project, we must launch a targeted digital campaign. The goal is to reach every resident and business owner on the island who has suffered financial loss due to the allegedly excessive and anti-competitive ferry fares.
For a campaign on Meta’s platforms, such as Facebook, the first step is to create a dedicated campaign page with a clear title like ‘Fair Ferry Fares for Wight’. This page will be our central hub for information. We will populate it with simple, powerful content explaining the issue and featuring stories from local people. The crucial second step is to use Meta’s targeted advertising tools. Through the Ads Manager, we can create specific ad campaigns that are shown exclusively to users who are registered as living on the Isle of Wight. These ads will direct them to a secure page on our website where they can confidentially register their interest in the compensation claim, fulfilling our call to action.
On the X platform, our approach will be focused on public pressure and building a community. We will create a dedicated account and a memorable hashtag, such as #FairFerryFares, to unify the conversation. We will post daily, highlighting price comparisons, service disruptions, and the economic harm to the island. We will directly tag and engage with the local Member of Parliament, councillors, journalists covering the region, and the Competition and Markets Authority’s official account to ensure our grievances are seen by those in power. This creates a public record of the complaint and encourages media pick-up.
Finally, on LinkedIn, we will conduct a professional campaign to reach the business community on the Isle of Wight. We will publish articles detailing the economic impact of the high transport costs on the island’s key sectors, such as tourism, construction, and agriculture. Using LinkedIn’s search functions, we will identify the owners and managers of these businesses and send them direct, confidential messages inviting them to participate in the commercial claimant class. This professional outreach is vital for ensuring the business community, which suffers significant quantifiable losses, is fully represented in our claim.