"I've done the right thing - can he say that?" Airport campaigner hits back over MP attack

Garage owner Mark Chadwick has been instrumental in leading the public campaign to see planes return to the skies above Doncaster and was singled out for praise by Mayor Ros Jones who described him as “influential” and added: “He helped spread the message of hope far and wide and continues to keep people informed and thus his contribution cannot be understated.”

But her words sparked fury from Don Valley Tory MP Mr Fletcher, who earlier this week faced calls to be suspsended by the Conservative Party after telling voters to back rival party Reform UK so his “good friend” Lee Anderson could be returned to Parliament, who launched an astonishing attack on Mr Chadwick, who runs the city’s Stadium Garage.

The MP wrote: “In her post she lavishes praise on a man who has blocked me from the Save DSA airport group on Facebook which he heads up and which I promoted daily to enable it to get its present membership.

"This post you are reading, like every other airport post I put out, will not be allowed by him to be seen in that group. Sad really.”

Mr Fletcher himself has repeatedly come in for criticism himself for blocking constituents from his own Facebook page – with hundreds of people banned simply for asking questions or offering an alternative view, accusing one voter of “trolling” and telling her: “I hope you won’t do that again.”

Now Mr Chadwick has blasted back against the MP – who he actually voted for at the last General Election – in a lengthy statement.

He said: “The contents of his posts and the attacks on me, our mayors, the local council, and anyone who disagrees with Nick Fletcher are the reason why we don't share his posts.

"The last contact I had with him and his assistant was in October 2022 when they were trying to control what I allowed or what was posted on the group and when I removed a post from a profile who I had banned for causing disruption and spreading misinformation.

"It quickly became quite clear to me who actually had the ability to get our airport re-opened and who needed the group’s support to do the job. Mr Fletcher was not on that list.

"I took him to task one day on a post on his page, my post was removed and I was blocked by my own MP - yes he's my MP unfortunately.

"From the very beginning of the campaign, Mr Fletcher has constantly scrutinised the work of the council and the mayor.

"This campaign should have had full cross party support from all MPs working together for the good of our city and our communities.

"Not this dysfunctional relationship that we see here. which to be honest is embarrassing and could have very nearly scuppered any airport reopening.

"When I set up the group I found that I had created the ability to do some good and help my community – why would our MP attack someone for doing that ?

“The role of Mr Fletcher and the group are also quite misleading as he was more bothered about his updates being posted than actually sharing our group on social media. I think we actually helped him more than he helped the group.”

"I’m just a local business man with 70 hours a week invested in this campaign, with my own money spent on subscriptions to various social and mainstream media accounts.

"I'm actually doing what he should be doing, creating a positive environment and rallying the troops to ensure the campaign was spread far and wide to keep it in the limelight and getting even more positive exposure to aid our authorities in their work.

"Just the other week he claimed our city was a ghetto. Now that’s really going to attract more investment and get companies to move here and employ local people.

"The difference we have here is I’ll still be at work on Monday morning doing MOTs or servicing a customer’s car with no regrets and not wondering if I’ve done the right thing or not recently.

"My conscience is clear with everything I’ve achieved with this campaign - will Mr Fletcher be able to say that?"