Leveson inquiry: Bob Crow claims press harassed him for more than 10 years Bob Crow said he had been put under surveillance by Derek Webb, the private investigator hired by News of the World. Photograph: Ray Tang / Rex Features Bob Crow, the head of the transport union RMT, has told the Leveson inquiry he and his staff have been victimised and harassed by the press for more than 10 years. Crow said he had been put under surveillance by Derek Webb, the private investigator hired by News of the World, as recently as January last year as well as on two occasions in October and November in 2010. He added that he had been harassed by staff from the Sun newspaper and a freelance journalist working for the Sunday Times had rummaged through bins looking for stories at a venue hosting the union's AGM. Crow said he heard testimony from the editor of the Sunday Times, who told the inquiry that the paper does not condone fishing expeditions. "They might not go on fishing trips, but they certainly go on refuse trips - because the man had his head in his bin like the character Top Cat," he told the inquiry. I know local councils are making cutbacks on bin collections, but I never thought journalists would step in to help out. Crow was also asked about evidence heard previously that the Mail on Sunday had used a private detective to find out who owned a scooter he had got a lift to work on. The article, headlined: "Well, how else would Bob Crow, scourge of commuters, get to work," was published in February 2003. Crow said the scooter belonged to his personal assistant, Adrian Scott, and the first he knew that someone had made a check at the vehicle registration office, the DVLA, was when two policemen came to his door to ask Scott if his scooter had broken down in Wandsworth, south London. Scott told the police he had not been in Wandsworth so this was not possible. Crow claimed the only way the paper got the identity of Scott was by "blagging the DVLA." "It was strange, as I would normally get a bus; it was strange that at that moment a photographer was there to take a picture of me on a scooter," he said. Crow also told how he had been photographed on holiday and how the Sun had tried to prevent him going to work by parking its bus outside his house for a story which included the line "you stopped people getting to work this week, get a taste of your own medicine." "Our trade union over the last 10 to 12 years has been the victim of a campaign of victimisation, harassment against not only me but officials," he added.