“I was unfairly punished for leaving food for a struggling family”

A Michelin trained chef from Sheffield who found himself in hot water with the police has had his conviction overturned.

Robert Robinson, from the Foxhill area of ​​the city, was convicted of a motoring offense after leaving free meals for his friends who were struggling during the coronavirus lockdown.

An appeal at Sheffield Crown Court on April 26 heard how Robert was wrongly accused of using a motor vehicle without the correct insurance in 2021.

Read more: A thug armed with a crowbar said “it’s nothing personal mate” before stealing the car

Robert, 39, is the Michelin-trained chef behind Sheffield business The Personal Chef. During the lockdown, he used his culinary skills to produce a ‘Feed a Family of Five for £5’ on his YouTube channel and leave meals ready to help those in need.

On 27 January 2021, Robert was stopped by police while driving along Infirmary Road in Sheffield on his way to deliver free food to a family struggling to afford to eat.

“The officer accused me of driving without the relevant business insurance for my car – despite not being a delivery driver and just delivering food to a family I was helping at the time. They had five children and were in an abusive relationship,” explained Robert.

“My car was fully insured. Nobody was paying me for leaving food – I was just trying to help someone.”

He spent nearly three years fighting the conviction, which he said cost him between £21,000 and £28,000. He was also handed six points on his license which saw his insurance premium skyrocket.

He continued: “I couldn’t run my business properly because of the sheer cost of insurance. A quote for annual cover went up to between £7,000 and £8,000, so I could only afford to insure my car with temporary insurance for three days a week.

“I’m almost 40, but I was getting quotes like I was a 17-year-old who had just passed his driving test.”

Robert said the conviction affected almost every aspect of his life. He explained: “It’s had a negative impact on my life, whether it’s work, getting the kids to school, getting to my hospital appointments – all from trying to do a good deed.

“It completely destroyed my day-to-day movements and my family movements and my business.”

Robert was also involved in a car accident in March 2023 which resulted in a broken scaphoid and thus became very limited in the work he was able to do – something that was made even more difficult much by the fact that he could not use his freely. car. He said: “I can’t really afford to do anything. I certainly can’t afford to give free meals to people like I did before.”

At Sheffield Crown Court on 26 April 2024, Robert overturned the motoring conviction. He told Yorkshire Live he felt “like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders”.

He said: “I can finally breathe a sigh of relief and get my kids to school every day and get them where they need to go without trying to find £30 to insure my car for the day “.

After successfully overturning the conviction, the Michelin-trained chef is looking to get back to helping those in need. Robert, who previously faced homelessness and struggled to afford food himself, says he is now in the early stages of setting up his own food charity to continue his good work and provide free meals to people homeless from the city.

He added: “Now that I’ve received clarification that what I was doing wasn’t illegal in the first place, I want to continue helping people. Conviction put an end to that when there are so many people I could have helped.”

Get all the latest and breaking South Yorkshire news straight to your inbox Sign up for our newsletter here.