Contempt
Birmingham City Council v Unite the Union [2026] EWHC 633 (KB)
The King’s Bench Division determined the appropriate penalty for Unite’s admitted breach of a prohibitory injunction granted on 23 May 2025 concerning picketing during a Birmingham rubbish collection strike. Birmingham City Council (BCC) sought a financial penalty for Unite’s contempt of court. The key issue was the appropriate sanction for breaches occurring between 8 and 21 July 2025, where Unite members obstructed waste collection vehicles on roads away from depot entrances, outside designated assembly areas. Unite admitted the breaches but argued they resulted from a genuine misunderstanding of the injunction’s scope, contending it only prohibited protesting at depot premises, not elsewhere. The court rejected this defence, finding the breaches deliberate with high culpability. The court held that Unite’s interpretation was not genuinely held but rather a spurious argument to circumvent the injunction’s clear terms. The injunction’s purpose was manifestly to prevent impediment to rubbish collection, which necessarily extended beyond merely allowing vehicles to exit depots. The court found Unite failed to take reasonable steps to ensure compliance, did not
