Coventry man banned from every library in city

[dutchman]

An unemployed man has been banned from every library in Coventry.



Andrew Dudley was brought to book after staff at Central Library complained he was ‘‘threatening, argumentative and disruptive’’.

He will not be allowed to go into any of the 17 city council libraries for the next 12 months.

Librarians said he had been asked to leave the premises on many occasions for ‘‘disturbing the peace’’.

The 40-year-old jobseeker, of Bath Street, Hillfields, used the library mainly to look for work on the internet.

He was first given a one month library ban in November last year.

But after failing to turn over a new leaf he was given a 12 month banning notice after an incident on March 19 when police had to be called in to escort him from the building.

Mr Dudley insists the ban is unfair and is appealing against the decision.

He believes he was given the ban to silence his complaints following a two-year dispute with staff over internet access.

Library officials argue they have made every effort to address his concerns but say they had a duty to protect library staff and the public.

In a letter informing him of the ban, the library’s operation’s manager said conversations with Mr Dudley had “reached a stalemate” and his “threat to ‘get us’ has been taken seriously”.

He will only be allowed to use any of the city’s libraries after March 18, 2014 if he promises to raise concerns in an “appropriate manner”.

Mr Dudley, who worked as a chef before becoming unemployed two years ago, told the Telegraph he visited the Central Library daily and spent up to five hours at a time using the internet to search for jobs and apply for work, as well as “kill time” by reading and taking books out on loan.

He said: “They say I breached the peace but I didn’t swear at anyone, I didn’t call anyone names.

“I complained because I felt that these people, the people at the library, couldn’t care about the job they’re doing or about people like me who were trying to look for work.

“This is a character assassination, they’re doing this to silence me. Bar me for the right reasons, not the wrong ones.”

His exclusion was served on grounds his behaviour breached 1972 City of Coventry by-laws for public libraries which ban disorderly, violent, abusive or obscene language in a library, the obstruction of a library officer in their duties and the disturbance of other library users.

Telegraph reported last month how a man who harassed council staff with a flood of complaints had been banned from council offices in Coventry.

His library membership card will be stopped and an email will be sent to all libraries telling about the ban.

A spokesman for Coventry City Council said: “Excluding someone from using any of our services is not something Coventry City Council does lightly and is an action that is always taken as a last resort.

“We do not comment on individual cases but the safety and welfare of our staff and the general public is something we take very seriously.

“As a result we will take every measure to ensure our staff can carry out their duty without fear for their own safety and welfare.”