'Just Another Gypsy?' Police racism and Shane Price's fight for justice
How one police officer's assumptions exposed something deeper in British Policing - By Claire Rice for the Travellers Times
In May 2021, Romany man Shane Price was driving along the A46 when he became the target of road-rage by a man in an unmarked car. That man turned out to be Inspector Jonathan Mellor of Lincolnshire Police.
What began as an intimidating and dangerous confrontation quickly spiralled into something much bigger—because this wasn’t just about one officer behaving badly. It was about how the police force closed ranks, ignored evidence, and showed exactly how deep prejudice and institutional bias can go.
So what actually happened?
After overtaking Mellor’s car, Shane was aggressively tailgated, blocked, and confronted at the roadside. The inspector used his phone while driving, took a photo of Shane, and then tried to downplay it all when Shane challenged him—on video.
But what’s really shocking is what Mellor said. He claimed he “knew” the Briggs-Price family—a Traveller family known to local police. But Shane isn’t part of that family. He’s a different person with a different background. So why make the connection?
It’s simple: Mellor saw the name Price, recognised Shane as a Romany man, and made a snap judgment. To him, any Romany person was part of a group he’d already judged. That’s prejudice—treating someone badly because of who you think they are, not who they really are.
What is prejudice?
Prejudice is when someone forms a negative opinion about a person based on their background, ethnicity, culture, or lifestyle—before they know anything about them. For our communities, that often means:
- Being followed around shops
- Being stopped by police for no reason
- Being refused service or accommodation
- Being treated as criminals without evidence
Mellor’s assumption that Shane was “one of those Price families” is textbook prejudice.
And what is institutional bias?
This is where things get even more serious. Institutional bias is when prejudice becomes part of the system—baked into the way organisations like the police, schools, or councils work.
In Shane’s case, this bias showed up in several ways:
- The Professional Standards Department (PSD) didn’t properly investigate Mellor.
- They refused to check his phone, even though there was video of him using it while driving.
- They rewrote their internal report to downplay what Mellor had done.
- No misconduct hearing was held—until Shane’s legal team pushed hard.
All of this tells us that the problem wasn’t just Mellor’s behaviour—it was the system protecting him. When a police force turns a blind eye to one of their own, especially when the victim is from a marginalised community, that’s institutional bias.
Why it matters
Shane was eventually awarded £100,000 in a civil claim. That’s not just a win for him—it’s a warning. If it takes years of legal action and a mountain of evidence just to hold one officer accountable, what does that mean for the rest of us?
Too many Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller people have stories like this. We’re stopped for no reason. We’re judged by our names or our homes. We’re treated as a problem to be managed, not as people with rights and dignity.
This isn’t just one bad apple
It’s easy to blame one officer. But the real issue is bigger. The real issue is that the system allowed it. It protected him. It didn’t believe Shane’s version of events—until it was forced to.
We’re told to “trust the police.” But trust has to be earned. And trust breaks when the truth is ignored, and victims are blamed.
Final word
Shane’s case matters because it proves what many of us already know: that racism, prejudice, and institutional bias are not just words. They are real. They are dangerous. And they are happening right now.
But it also shows the power of fighting back—with evidence, with allies, and with truth.
Read the full legal blog by Shane Price's lawyer Iain Gould. Warning contains distressing video of Police Inspector Mellor's attack on Shane Price which was used as evidence in court:
By Claire Rice for the Travellers Times
(Photograph: Screen shot from video presented as evidence to the courts - taken by Shane Price's wife)