A man who is taking the Government to court over their lockdown policies was suspended from Twitter on the first day of the legal case.

Simon Dolan, who started the Keep Britain Free campaign, saw his access to the platform restricted for 12 hours yesterday as his case was heard in the Court of Appeal. Mr. Dolan, an entrepreneur and former racecar driver, received a notification saying that a Tweet he posted over two weeks ago had violated rules against “spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19”.

Dolan said: “I was suspended for some innocuous tweet I made weeks ago. It just so happened I got it right as the case was starting. Coincidence I’m sure…”

The Tweet in question, sent on October 17, read:

In Feb 20, Johnson was talking to the Chinese about them building HS2, and them rolling out the 5G infrastructure in the UK Huge projects with massive security risks A month later, the UK is locked down.

Twitter say they suspended the account in error, and point out that it has now been reinstated.

The 51-year-old’s lawyers, Wedlake Bell, told the court yesterday that the regulations “imposed far-reaching restrictions on the lives and businesses of the entire population of England.” In an article for the Telegraph, Dolan said Keep Britain Free were “Once seen as outsiders” but have “watched the tide of public opinion turn in our favour.” Dolan had to take the case directly to the Court of Appeal after a High Court judge refused permission for a hearing back in July.

The case, which continues today, is being heard by the lord chief justice Lord Burnett of Maldon and the most senior judge in England and Wales. The lawyers’ central case is that the original lockdown measures were brought in outside the scope of the 1984 Public Health Act which was used to implement them.

Mr.Dolan’s crowdfunder campaign has so far raised almost £400,000 with 12,920 backers with a new target of £425,000.