Dad admits driving digger into Liverpool Travelodge sparking £500k damage in fit of rage over ‘missing £600 wages’
A DISGRUNTLED builder rammed a digger into the front of a hotel after his employers failed to pay him, a court heard. John Manley, 35, drove into the front of a Travelodge in Liverpool Innovation Park on January 21, the day the building was due to be completed. The dad-of-two admitted criminal damage at an […]
A DISGRUNTLED builder rammed a digger into the front of a hotel after his employers failed to pay him, a court heard.
John Manley, 35, drove into the front of a Travelodge in Liverpool Innovation Park on January 21, the day the building was due to be completed.
The dad-of-two admitted criminal damage at an earlier hearing, and had been due to stand trial on Monday, but then he also pleaded guilty to damaging property being reckless as to whether life is endangered before the Liverpool Crown Court trial began.
Dozens of horrified colleagues watched on as he ploughed the orange digger into the newly built hotel in Liverpool, obliterating the entrance of the reception.
One co-worker can be heard shouting: “That’s what happens when people don’t pay your wages, mate. You just don’t s**t on the job.
“He’s a sick man. Oh my God, he’s not a***d. Right through the building.”
Trevor Parry-Jones, prosecuting, said no evidence would be offered in relation to a charge of dangerous driving.
Footage showing the vehicle repeatedly smashing into the reception of the Travelodge in Edge Lane went viral online after the incident.
Nobody could believe their eyes. The man just went crazy.
Another who had a close shave on the day of the crash yelled: “All you had to do was pay him f****** £600. We’re lucky.
“I was right behind that door.”
A source said: “Nobody could believe their eyes. The man just went crazy.
“Everyone said he’d had an issue over his pay and he was saying he was owed £600.
“But even if that’s true, to smash up a building is just beyond belief.”
Ceiling fixer Samuel White, 24, said: “The handover was today, everything completed, we’d put the last tile in, cleaned up and made sure everything was perfect.
Brendan Carville, defending, said: “He accepts he intended to cause that damage.”
Mr Carville said Manley, who he described as a “family man”, conceded there would be an immediate custodial sentence.
He said: “There were social problems which caused this offence, notably the failure of his immediate employers to pay him over the Christmas period and asking him to work for nothing on the eve of this offence.
“He has two young children.”
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Mr Carville asked for the sentencing to be adjourned so a psychiatric report could be prepared.
Merseyside Police were called to the hotel shortly after 3pm on January 21 but said the driver left the vehicle and made off on foot in the direction of Edge Lane.
A force spokesman said one man experienced eye irritation due to exposure to diesel and was treated at the scene by North West Ambulance Service.
Manley, of St Aidan’s Way in Netherton, was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing on November 1.
