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Plaque to Jamie Bryson
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Jamie Bryson as movie character Taxi Driver
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Jamie Bryson after signing on
Leading flag protester and ‘taxi volunteer’ Jamie Bryson went “berserk” after discovering the Sunday World was going to expose him as a dole cheat and now on-line jokers are taking a poke at him.
Furious Bryson heard that we were going to run the story despite him sending us a legal letter within an hour of us talking to him.
Bryson eventually claimed on Twitter that he was not a benefits cheat and instead had been working at Kare Kabs in Bangor as part of a training programme.
Barely before the Sunday World had hit the stands, Bryson released a late night statement filled with anger claiming he was going to sue.
He even had the cheek to call us ‘PSNIRA State Puppets’ and said he’d “see us in court”.
We haven’t heard from Jamie since.
Last Sunday we revealed how we watched Bryson, from Rosepark in Donaghadee, arrive at Crown Buildings on Hamilton Road, Bangor where he signs on every week.
After signing on at 12.43 he then arrived at the offices of Kare Kabs 11 minutes later.
Bryson has spent the last two months, or so, answering the phones for Bangor’s largest taxi rank.
Following our story Bryson and his taxi bosses held an early Sunday morning summit meeting in the Kare Kab offices where they agreed Bryson would continue to work for the company.
The 23-year-old has continued to work for the Bangor-based firm this week although it’s not clear whether he has signed off or not.
Meanwhile the ‘Twitterati’ wasted no time in getting stuck into Bryson.
Inventive sites like LAD (Loyalists Against Democracy) posted pictures of Jamie dressed like Robert de Niro from cult movie Taxi Driver.
Meanwhile another wag suggested Jamie deserves to have a coveted blue plaque erected in his honour for his “voluntary deeds to the taxi industry”.
Others mused about which taxi firm Jamie worked for with one suggesting he probably works for ‘FoneaFleg’.
By Sunday lunchtime Jamie had mellowed and was even cracking jokes about the story himself.
He posted: “At least when the DUP need a taxi to dole queue come next May they know who to contact”.
This is of course a reference to the local and European elections set for next year.
Bryson has vowed to stand in the elections as an anti-agreement independent.
When the Sunday World confronted Bryson with the allegations over two phone calls he refused to deny them.
When we told him we believed he was both working and claiming dole he went on a bizarre rant that the police and IRA must have told us.
He said: “Well probably the peelers have told you that or probably the IRA but you can’t really distinguish between them two – so I don’t know whatever one you want to pick with.”
This week Jamie has been fairly rampant on his Twitter page but has not addressed the taxi allegations since last Sunday – despite being constantly provoked by his Twitter followers.
Instead he found time to wage war on GAA sponsors and even went to west Belfast to pose in front of some republican murals.