Well, i know everyone now knows about the little altercation i got in to after the first World cup in Vigo, and i also know how the rumour mill likes to spin. So for the record this is my account of what happened, straight from the horses mouth as they say.
As always happens after the big races we were all out celebrating, there was a huge gang of Racers, Organisers, Team members, Fans, and the public. Towards the end of the night a large group maybe 30 - 40 people had left the club and started to make their way home. A few individuals that I did not know caused some damage to public stuff, I actually, along with Greg Minnaar tried to tell a Spanish guy to calm it down.
Me and a few other friends walked ahead a little of the main bunch, then the police showed up and started to arrest a Spanish guy, he flipped and fought the police. At this point we were stood over the other side of the road watching, we decided to go get taxis and go home but the police stopped us and said wait here for a moment, they brought a guy over who pointed at me then the police arrested me. They put me in a car with 2 other British people who also didn"t know why they were arrested.
I spent Sunday night and all day Monday in the police custody before I even new why I had been arrested, then when I did find out all they said was that I was with the group of people who damaged property. I also spent Monday night in the cell and was not allowed to make any calls to tell my wife what was happening.Tuesday morning came and they handcuffed me to some scruffy heroin addict then took me to see the judge, I told the judge that I had not done anything wrong and she let me go with no charge whatsoever, I got a piece of paper that stated I was free but if they found any photographic evidence within 3 days they could summons me back. As you can all tell those 3 days passed along time ago now and I have not been back.The other 2 British people that were arrested were also set free.
When I walked out of the courts the paparazzi were waiting, I could"nt believe I had made front page news for doing nothing wrong, the organisers of the race set up a press conference for me to put my side of the story over to the news and papers. I did this but as everyone knows the news, they still tried to make it look bad. I was pissed off that I had spent all that time in a cell, and had to miss my flight for that day just to clear my name for being innocent, it had been a bad experience and I just hope that it does not affect future events in Vigo.The race was a huge success and the local people were friendly and enthusiastic to the racers.
I hope this clears things up for most of you.
Steve Peat
Steve Peat
Team Orange England
www.stevepeat.com 
