Who exactly is Russell Howarth?
He's best known as the man who made citizens arrests while campaigning against the UberX ride sharing service when it was setting up in 2014.
But he's also a bankrupt thanks to a seemingly innocuous traffic accident outside Sydney's exclusive Ivy nightclub and a court case gone wrong.
Born in Leicester in the UK, Mr Howarth began to court a media profile in about 2008 as the green-friendly hire car business he founded was taking off.
Now 48, he stated on the website of his former limousine business that he is "a former police officer with the London Metropolitan Police Service" with experience in "advanced riot-policing and counter-terrorism".
He had started out as a taxi driver, gaining permission from the NSW Government to run a fleet of low emission vehicles as hire cars in Sydney. He later attracted media attention when he hit back at government moves to stop him expanding by offering free trips.
Mr Howarth says he secured work for the APEC conference in Sydney in 2007, assembling "a specialised team, facilitated and provided additional training for a contract to drive senior figures between all key meetings under the highest security Australia had ever seen".
By about 2009 he was driving for Mr Hockey, which he did until after the Cabcharge dispute was resolved in 2012.
Less well-known, however, is how Mr Howarth ended up bankrupt.
As the Department of Finance and Cabcharge was considering whether to refer allegations of fraud to the Australian Federal Police, Mr Howarth was battling to save his finances.
According to court documents, Mr Howarth launched legal action after a crash involving a taxi and one of his hire cars outside the Ivy on George Street in the CBD on July 9, 2010 .
The driver of Howarth's hire car that night, Stuart Michael Barry, had a booking to collect an unnamed VIP from the Ivy when he came to grief with a taxi owned by John Hsiao-Kong Tu, driven by Alaimoana M. Afoa.
Mr Howarth said he launched court action in response to Mr Tu claiming $17,000 in repair costs. Mr Tu disputed the version of events, saying Mr Barry was at fault.
In his statement of claim, Mr Howarth said the taxi was "illegally stopped" in a bus zone on George Street. He claimed there was a dispute between the taxi driver and a woman who was shouting at the driver. The taxi was stopped and didn't indicate its intention to pull away from the kerb, it was claimed, while the hire car was stopped two lanes away.
But the move to bring the matter to court backfired and in March 2012, Mr Tu won the case in the Local Court. By July 2013, Mr Howarth was ordered to pay $11,496 to Mr Tu.
The next month, Mr Howarth was served with a bankruptcy notice at his waterfront rental in Drummoyne and again in January 2014 which included a costs notice.
In a series of emails revealed in court documents, Mr Howarth told Mr Tu's lawyer: "As for being made to pay costs, I would return to England before I paid a cent to you or the man who as far as I am concerned is operating in a criminal manner.
"You can pursue payment awarded at court 'til I go to jail because I will not work or generate an income to pay the unconscionable conduct of you and the client.
"This is not over mark my words."
Mr Howarth was declared bankrupt in January 2014. He will be eligible to be discharged after three years.
Within months of being declared bankrupt, Mr Howarth became the face of opposition to transport upstart UberX on behalf of taxis and hire cars drivers, including performing citizens arrests.
He featured regularly in the media voicing concern about what the arrival of ride sharing services would do to traditional taxi services.
He slipped from media view after UberX won the right to operate in NSW.
