An unemployed Oban man was found guilty of behaving in a racist manner towards a shop manager after he was unable to upgrade two mobile phones.
Guy Bridgman, 57, appeared in the town’s sheriff court on Monday, facing charges that on Wednesday August 7 2024 he caused fear and alarm towards the Argos worker by behaving in a racist manner.
The court heard Bridgman had gone to the shop seeking a refund or upgrade on two phones he had previously purchased from the Lochavulin Drive store.
Racist remarks made after shop worker would not issue a refund
When the shop manager spoke to Bridgman, he claimed she did not have “command of the English language” to deal with his technical questions or to handle his complaint.
Fiscal depute Raeesa Ahmed said Bridgman only became agitated and used racist language after his refund was refused by the store manager.
He was heard to have said he wanted to speak to someone who “spoke English properly” and said, seven or eight times: “I am not talking to someone who doesn’t speak English.”
The court heard that Bridgman swore and had been agitated and angry in the Oban shop.
When staff left the Argos store that evening, they were said to be afraid that Bridgman was still in the area.
On a second occasion, on August 17, Bridgman came into the shop and tried to speak to a male member of staff, thinking he “looked like the manager”, saying he would be “on a better footing”.
When he found out the male member of staff was not a manager, he repeated his racist statements towards the man’s colleague and repeated them to another store manager.
Bridgman continued to make comments about the shop manager’s level of spoken English.
Staff contacted police, and officers spoke to Bridgman, who was at Oban Police Station on another matter.
Accused ‘put on an accent’ when questioned by police
Bridgman, of Soroba Road, was interviewed under caution for committing a hate crime.
Giving evidence in court, the police officer said: “Bridgman stated ‘I was speaking to a foreign accent and their English was not good enough and they could not explain my consumer rights’.”
The officer continued: “Bridgman was putting on what I would describe as a foreign accent.”
The officer said Bridgman was charged under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021.
Bridgman claimed staff in the store would not give him a refund and had sent him to “the Asians” in Oban to see if they could help.
In more than two hours of evidence, Bridgman said: “I went to the store to get an upgrade on the phones I had previously bought.
“I did not know that it would lead to me being detained for 10 hours in a police cell. The whole point was not to get arrested – I was trying to upgrade my phones.”
My godmother is Jamaican
He continued: “I am not racist, I speak many languages, and my godmother is Jamaican and I have many friends and family who are not from here. I am not a racist.”
He later added: “I wish I could buy the complainer a drink to say sorry, or something.”
He also said: “My bail conditions would not allow me to write a card to the complainer.”
In summing up, Sheriff Euan Cameron said: “Context is everything.
“I have no hesitation to accept the evidence of the complainer, who I believed.
“The complainer was shaken after her encounter with you.”
He said the complainer’s colleagues had heard the same comments.
Speaking to Bridgman, he said: “You were simply not going to listen to someone who is not from here.
“Your evidence was not believable and was often rambling and incoherent.”
While Bridgman’s solicitor Graeme Wright asked for the matter to be concluded on Monday, Sheriff Cameron said that given “this was the racial abuse of a woman in the course of her work”, he wanted reports, including one on restriction of liberty.
The case will call for sentencing on May 12. Bail was continued.
Have you signed up for our Oban and Hebrides newsletter?
Every week our Oban-based reporter Louise Glen curates the best news in the area.
Sign up here for local news straight to your inbox. And if you’d like to join the conversation on West Coast Chat on Facebook, we’d love to hear from you.