TV presenter awarded £2,000 compensation for arrest following 'one-legged, lesbian lorry driver' speech

Robin Page, who hosted TV's One Man And His Dog, fought a five-year campaign to clear his name after being locked up in a cell for his jokey introduction to a pro-hunting speech.

He told a meeting in Framptonupon-Severn, Gloucestershire, in 2002: "If you are a black, vegetarian, Muslim, asylum-seeking, onelegged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you."

Scroll down for more...

Most of the audience were amused. But the police later received a letter of complaint.

Another person also wrote to say he disagreed with Mr Page's remarks.

Two officers from Gloucestershire Police travelled to Cambridgeshire to arrest Mr Page at his cattle farm.

He was held in a cell at a police station for 40 minutes before agreeing to be interviewed without a lawyer present.

Mr Page, 64, said yesterday: "I was told I had committed a 'hate crime', interviewed under caution-and given police bail."

No charges were brought but he was never given any explanation for his treatment.

He later used the Data Protection Act to obtain legal documents showing the Attorney General had ruled that no crime had been committed.

Yesterday, after being awarded £2,000 from Gloucestershire Police, he said: "I believe I have scored a significant victory over the ludicrous and sinister, politically-correct 'hate crime' culture that is currently doing so much to prevent free speech in this country. It is absolutely outrageous.

"In my view it clearly shows I was arrested for political reasons simply because my views on the countryside were not appreciated. I was not guilty of any crime."

He added: "I would have pushed for more money from the police but I had recently had prostate surgery and I just wanted the whole saga over with.

"Annoyingly, the police sent my cheque in an unstamped envelope.

"I had to go to my local post office to pay £1.24 to pick it up. I'm not all that convinced it was a mistake."

He said the Freedom of Information disclosures had also revealed he was on a police "homophobic incident record" and he fears his name has not been removed.

He said: "How can you be included on a homophobic incident record for using the word lesbian once in a speech? It is just incredible. Political correctness is the new McCarthyism."

Mr Page said the arrest was potentially damaging to him professionally and in his work as a district councillor for 30 years.

Gloucestershire Police have already apologised to Mr Page after he discovered a member of the force had written in an email about a trip he was making to Kenya: "Hopefully he will be eaten by a crocodile."

A spokesman for the force said: "We have reached an out-of-court settlement with Mr Page.

"Our insurers made an offer to Mr Page for a relatively small amount, which was accepted, and we feel this is appropriate in the circumstances."