Mobile protest to jailing of graffiti artists

Laura Thistlethwaite

September 26, 2007

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Bollington graffiti artist Alan Wood who painted his VW Golf in protest to the jailing of TJ Dolan and Tom Whittaker

A SPRAY can samaritan is doing his bit to raise awareness of Macclesfield’s jailed graffiti vandals – by driving a car daubed with street art.

TV sound editor and artist Alan Wood, 21, from Bollington, heard about the plight of convicted duo Thomas ‘TJ’ Dolan, 20, and Thomas Whittaker, 18, and volunteered his services for the skate and graffiti festival which took place for the imprisoned pair in Manchester.

He has hit upon an unusual way of drawing attention to the current campaign to reduce the sentences of the Macclesfield boys, who have been sent down for 15 months and one year respectively.

Alan – who uses his Volkswagen Golf to travel the 40-mile round trip to work daily – covered the hatchback in graffiti art during an eight-hour painting marathon. He said: “It’s only my second car and I drive it from Macclesfield to Manchester to work and back every day. I thought it would be a good way to get some publicity for the lads.

“I don’t know them personally, but the injustice of the whole thing has got to me. Spray painting my car was a nice way of getting people thinking about them.”

Alan has adorned the entire bodywork of the 11-year-old vehicle, which he has only had for 12 months, with a pink and blue logo and painted the words “Hate the sin, love the sinner” on the bonnet.

“People have been looking and beeping their horns at me on my way to work and I’ve heard plenty of kids in Bollington talking about it, so it’s all good,” he said.

He added: “At the moment crimes against property are treated much more harshly than those against people. We accept that TJ and Tom have broken the law but it is a ridiculous sentence, there is just a huge imbalance in the way people are treated for crimes.”

Around 2,400 people have now joined an online petition against the sentences and hundreds of messages of support have been left for the pair on the ‘Free Kreky’ Facebook group.

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Michael S, Surrey (26/09/2007 at 14:52)

Well done Alan, what a brilliant, generous and unselfish way to show your support for the unduly harsh and vindictive treatment of these two lads. What a way to spread the word! You¿ll have the smartest car in town.

Macc Lad (03/10/2007 at 12:37)

why dont people understand that if you commit a criminal offence then you must be prepared to take the rap. the old saying of if you cant do the time dont do the crime is very apt. fair enough they got lengthy sentences, and its frustrating when you see more serious offences getting less jail time, but the point is this.....£13,000 of damage is not exactly small, the time and resources used to remove graffiti is massive. Lets face it, if someone say...for examples sake sprayed your car one night you would demand justice!!. i think its good that a judge comes along who recognises that people need to be detered from doing such things. If the lads want to graffiti be they can but they need to be more responsible...i mean they wouldnt spray there parents houses all over would they, so why is anything else fair game??. It must be tough for the families and the lads being young, but they must accept the consequences dealt, keep there head down , and hopefully learn a valuble lesson. Jail must be tough , but it should be...its hardly going to be a holiday camp.

Immy A, Macc (10/10/2007 at 18:45)

Wooo!! Go you Alan! I think it's a great way to raise awareness, keep up the good work! Don't listen to anyone giving you a hard time about it-when TJ and Tom get out of prison you'll know you had a part in it and all the people making personal jibes won't have.FREE KREK AND MERS!!!

Macc Lad (17/10/2007 at 12:18)

a fact is a fact. everyone is entitled to an opnion, but no one is entitled to commit crime that costs thousands of pounds of damage an expect to get a slap on the wrist. crime commited = jail time or paying the cost of damage not at a £1 a week either. thats the problem with this country everyone expects special treatment.

Michael S, Surrey (17/10/2007 at 21:55)

Why, Macc Lad do you not understand that the two street artists admit they did wrong, and expected to be punished. Their supporters understand that a sentence of community service would have enabled your objective of removing their artwork to be achieved within the valuable framework of the community to everyone¿s benefit: a missed opportunity where they are now. I understand that a prison sentence of the length that they received is out of proportion when compared to the very lenient sentences meted out to those who commit the brutal and wicked offences you can see all around you every day: like driving over and killing a child and spending six weeks in prison. Most of society understands reasonableness and necessity and when to apply them.

Macc Lad (24/10/2007 at 12:21)

i do understand, only too well infact. i agree with your points, all i am saying is that you have got to accept that if you commit a crime that costs money, lives, whatever it is....then you have realistically got to accept that there is the possibilty of serving jail time. the amount of money/time that councils etc waste on clearing this sort of stuff up is silly, it could be used for so many different things. In my view community service is no real justice or deterant. paying for the damage caused would be a good start (in full, none of this £1 a week stuff). Im not trying to rile you fella, just submit some open views that this website encourages with its open forum.

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