Disagreement over caravan lands in court

A disagreement at a Southend caravan park ended in a trial before Sheriff Patrick Hughes at Campbeltown Sheriff Court last Wednesday.

The sheriff found 38-yearold Scott Bryan, of 9 Milton Douglas Road, Clydebank, guilty of acting in a threatening or abusive manner towards the owners of the park by shouting and uttering threats and while on bail.

The court heard how events unfolded at Kilmashenachan Caravan Park on August 3 last year in a dispute over the sale and siting of a caravan.

Bryan said he had paid £500 for the caravan, and his partner had witnessed this, but he had not been given a receipt.

They wanted a caravan as her father had one there.

They were to then pay a £500 fee for a site on the park by the beach.

The owner of the site said he had shown a caravan to Bryan, as it might be coming up for sale. ‘It wasn’t mine to sell,’ he told the court.

In her evidence his wife said: ‘There is a waiting list.’

The owners of the site both said they had been on the beach, repairing a gate, when they were approached by Bryan.

‘He was very angry. I didn't know what was going to happen. I was shaken up at his anger at me,’ said the man.

His wife said: ‘He was marching fast towards us and, as he marched, he started shouting at my husband.’

Both said Bryan had said: ‘We had a gentleman’s agreement,’ but Bryan told the court: ‘I have never used that phrase in my life.’

Bryan said he had not been shouting and his father-in-law gave evidence backing him up.

Bryan told the sheriff: ‘I was upset I didn’t get the pitch but I still had a caravan on the site.’

Bryan’s defence agent Phillip Lafferty said, when summing up, that the site owners did not report the matter to the police immediately and that Bryan had remained there for the following week after the incident.

Sheriff Hughes said he found the evidence given by the site owners to be ‘honest and reliable’ and the case proven.

He deferred sentence until June 24 for reports to be prepared on Bryan.