Pensioner rammed his neighbour’s car in parking dispute
A 72-YEAR-OLD old man has been shamed by a court after he used his pick-up truck to repeatedly ram his next door neighbour’s car out of the way so he could park outside his home.
Clive Chapman would deliberately bump the woman’s Ford Focus along the road so he could squeeze his black 4x4 Nissan Navara outside his Victorian mid-terraced property at the end of a suburban cul-de-sac.
Police were called in after the woman set up a CCTV camera, which captured Chapman hitting her vehicle seven times without telling her. Her car was left with paint damage and needed retouching.
Enquiries revealed Chapman, from Davenport, Stockport, had been in an on-going feud with his neighbour over parking on Warren Road.
In a statement, the woman said she was left feeling ‘intimated’ and said Chapman would often park so close to her car that she could not open the boot.
“This is an ongoing situation when I have parked outside my house before he comes home,” her statement added.
“I feel very intimidated by this man. Sometimes he parks up very close to me so that I have no access to my boot. He has ample space to park his car behind me. I feel very distressed by all of this.”
Chapman admitted seven charges of driving without due care and attention and seven charges of failing to report an accident at Stockport magistrates court. He was disqualified from driving for six months and ordered to pay a £275 fine.
The incidents took place over a fourweek period last October.
Prosecutor Victoria Norman said: “The parties are neighbours and share parking outside their houses on the public highway. The complainant parked her Ford Focus on the street, leaving the vehicle secure and unattended and she has CCTV outside.
“The footage shows the defendant driving his vehicle into their street and reverse-parking into the space next to her vehicle.
“He then drives forward hitting her vehicle on each of the seven occasions.
“She feels this is a result of parking disputes between them both and her getting home first and him struggling to find a parking space outside his house.
“The CCTV shows the defendant hitting her vehicle, getting out and having a little look and then going into his house, he never told her about the damage.”
Defence lawyer Robert Stewart said: “It is always an unfortunate situation when we have a person of Mr Chapman’s age before the courts. He is deeply disappointed and ashamed.
“There’s been a situation regarding parking where one party believes the other are parking outside their house and the other party believes it’s the other way around.
“He had no intention to cause any damage.”