Quinn Blakey hairdresser creates fundraising page for legal battle as she faces court for £17,000 fines for opening West Yorkshire salon during lockdown

Sinead Quinn, the owner of the Bradford Road salon in Oakenshaw, has been issued with several fines totalling £17,000 by Kirklees Council for staying open since the second lockdown began on November 5.

This is due to hair salons being deemed 'non-essential' and ordered to close by the Government.

Now, Ms. Quinn faces court action and has created a GoFundMe page to raise £5,000 to fund her legal battle.

On her fundraising page, she wrote: “By no means do I think the council will be successful in trying to extort money from me.

“I am simply doing this so that people don’t take it upon themselves to create a gofundme on my behalf and possibly run off with the money.

“I’m confident in the fact we will win this fight, so in that case the money will go to my amazing brother who is fighting himself against Stage 4bowel cancer, he was diagnosed in August 2020 and he’s 36 years old with a wife and 2 children.

“He is an amazing soul and he gives me the confidence to fight every single day. He is my best friend and I wouldn’t be able to do this without him.

“Here’s to 2021 - my brother cancer-free and standing up for our rights and taking our freedoms back.

“POWER TO THE PEOPLE.”

A spokesperson for Kirklees council said: “Kirklees Council has issued a closure notice and applied for a court order to shut an Oakenshaw hairdresser after the owner has repeatedly opened during the second national lockdown.

“Sinead Quinn - the owner of Quinn Blakey Hairdressing on Bradford Road, Oakenshaw - has been issued with several fines by Kirklees Council in recent weeks after being found to be open and trading on multiple occasions.

“Hair salons are included in the list of venues required to close under national Covid-19 lockdown restrictions which came into effect on 5 November.

“Kirklees Council has been working closely with West Yorkshire Police to monitor the situation and on 27 November 2020 the business was found to be open and trading again during the second national lockdown.

“The council has on 28 November 2020 issued a closure notice to the premises which means access to anyone, other than a person who lives in the building or the owner or occupier of it, is prohibited.

“If anyone fails to comply with this, it could result in a fine and/or a maximum of three months in prison.

“In addition to this, Kirklees Council has also applied for a closure order under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which will now be heard before a Magistrates’ Court on Monday 30 November.

“If approved at court, the closure order will then mean it will be a serious offence for anyone to enter the premises and could result in arrest and a maximum prison sentence of 51 weeks and/or a fine.”

Councillor Paul Davies, Cabinet Member for Culture and Greener Kirklees, said: “I completely understand the frustrations of local business owners and thankfully the overwhelming majority of them have complied with the national lockdown and closed to help us overcome the virus.

“This pandemic has been devastating for a vast number of reasons, including the impact it has had on people’s livelihoods.

“The lockdown rules put in place by the Government are there so we can lower our infection rates, ease pressure on our health services and to ultimately save people’s lives.

“The actions taken by this business owner, and those who have given her custom during this period, have been illegal, selfish and reckless. The business owner has wilfully endangered herself, her customers, the wider community and our staff.

“We don’t want to fine our businesses or take action like this against them, particularly after such a difficult year. However, we have given this business every opportunity to do the right thing and public health must come first. We have been left with no choice.

“Thank you to the vast majority of people in Kirklees who are following the rules and guidance. If we all continue to play our part, we will get where we need to be.”

A post on the Quinn Blakey Hairdressing Instagram account on November 5 read: “Lockdown Day 1. I earned this week’s rent today, not sure where I would be pulling that money from given the Government want self-employed business people to wait six weeks for a payment.

“I still have mortgage, bills, childcare fees, food, car, insurance etc, not to mention the overheads for the shop.

“If we give up now, I can categorically guarantee your small businesses will not survive this lockdown – given it’s not going to be four weeks.

“Like I said before, this is more than just having a business and an income, this is my children’s future and that’s more important to me than anything.”

A number of videos posted on the page show the owner of the salon speaking to council and police officers through the locked door of the shop.

She is heard telling them she does “not consent” to being fined and that she is “standing under common law”.

The Quinn Blakey owner tried to use the Magna Carta as a reason for staying open.

The letter on the door referring to the 1215 document said: “Under Article 61 of Magna Carta 1215 we have a right to enter into lawful dissent if we feel we are being governed unjustly.

“Contrary to common belief, our sovereign and her government are only there to govern us and not rule us.

“This must be done within the constraint of our common law and the freedoms asserted to us by such law. Nothing can become law in this country if it falls outside of this simple constraint.

“I am not under any obligation, nor will I, answer any questions or give you any details. I am a living persons and statutory regulations only apply with my consent.”

The letter continued to demand proof for eight different clauses before Quinn Blakey Hairdressing salon said they would agree to close.