Russell Howarth, the bankrupt former hire car driver to Joe Hockey and self-proclaimed anti-Uber advocate who performed citizen's arrests in a campaign against the upstart taxi service, has been slapped with a court order permanently banning him from harassing Uber drivers and passengers.

Mr Howarth rose to prominence through a series of stunts starting in 2014 in which he would book an Uber ride and, when the transaction was complete, perform a citizen's arrest of the driver.

He was part of a social media campaign called Arresting Uber and drew significant mainstream media attention as the Uber business tried to gain ground in Australia. Claiming a background with the UK Police and working as a riot policeman, he was also behind the company that was involved in a dispute over Cabcharge dockets of former treasurer Joe Hockey.

Citing ongoing intimidation and harassment of its drivers and passengers, Uber launched action in the NSW Supreme Court seeking a permanent order against Mr Howarth. Uber alleged Mr Howarth performed nine citizen's arrests on Uber drivers between October 2014 and June 2015, followed in June-August 2016 by various acts of intimidation and harassment.