A BREAKAWAY campaigner is defending his leaflet which was branded “grotesque” and “offensive” after it was delivered to thousands of Caversham Heights homes.

Self-styled pamphleteer Tom Curtin teamed up with residents to put together a four-page flyer entitled The Height of Nonsense which insisted a new free school in Upper Warren Avenue will cause traffic chaos and create a death trap for children.

The leaflet, which opposes building the Heights School at High Ridge, was delivered by courier to 3,500 homes on Saturday.

Neighbours took to social media to complain the leaflet was spreading misinformation and branded it “grotesque” for putting a picture of a traffic accident on its front cover.

Ruth Aitken posted on Facebook: “Using photographs taken by a twisted voyeur to create a non-existant link to seemingly provide back-up to a personal agenda is just appalling. Tempted to report it to be honest.

“It is grossly offensive and that is putting aside the text contents.”

The first exchanges were aimed at the Caversham Residents Against Inappropriate Development (CRAID), but the group denied being involved with the leaflet, and an email from delivery firm Streetrunners Ltd revealed the leaflet was distributed by Curtin and Co, which is run by Mr Curtin.

The firm denied its involvement, but Mr Curtin, speaking to The Chronicle from Italy yesterday (Wednesday), confirmed he was behind it.

He said: “What we have done is in the essence of the 17th and 18th century pamphleteers. We don’t want to form a group, there’s enough groups in Caversham already.”

Former CRAID member Mr Curtin, of St Peter’s Avenue, admitted that some of the leaflet was hypothesis, but denied it was misleading. He blasted the government agency responsible for finding a site for the new school as secretive and demanded it publish its technical data.

He said: “If we are not given the information you hypothesise and hope for the best.

“We are not getting meetings, we are going nowhere and if we don’t do something and work people up this is going to land like a space ship one morning.

“What this is designed to do is work people up and say 'this is happening’.”

The pamphlet included the following information:

*The school will result in more than 800 more car journeys in and out of the area

*Parents dropping their children off at the school will cause traffic chaos

*The traffic gridlock will turn nearby Woodcote Road into a “death trap”

*Upper Warren Avenue will be turned into a one-way system with the bollards removed from St Peter’s Avenue and intervening roads turned into rat runs to and from the A4074 Woodcote Road

*It calls on Reading East MP Rob Wilson to come forward and oppose the High Ridge site and listen to the views of neighbours

*That because the site is on the edge of the catchment area 84 per cent of pupils will have to cross the busy, dangerous Woodcote Road.