Plant pots parking war that’s cost couple £200k
Police called in over 200 times after teacher and wife blocked their neighbours’ path with everything from toys to shrubbery
A COUPLE who repeatedly moved plant pots to block their neighbour from parking his car have been told to pay a £200,000 court bill.
Teacher Chris Hill and his wife Susan embarked on a campaign to stop Grant Shortland from parking outside his own home – which resulted in the police being called in more than 200 times over the row.
Mr Shortland, 55, who works as a bricklayer, has no direct access to his home from the road – but has a right of way to drive his car over the Hills’ front yard up to his house.
As the row came to a head at the High Court this week, a judge branded the couple ‘childish’ for placing the plant pots – as well as a barbecue, a table, children’s toys and chairs – in the yard to cause ‘maximum inconvenience’ to their neighbour.
Mr and Mrs Hill claimed they were morally right, but Judge Paul Matthews ordered them to move their pots and other items and to pay the £200,000 bill. He added that an injunction was necessary to ensure they stop.
‘It is childish behaviour by the defendants and reflects no credit on them or their relatives who took part in this game,’ Judge Matthews said.
‘I cannot help thinking that they have embarked on this campaign deliberately, with a view to discouraging Mr Shortland, little by little, from making any use of the rights which he has, and so rendering the yard a much more valuable piece of land to them than it was when they bought and paid a reduced price for it.’
The court heard Mr Shortland and his partner Melanie Heritage, 54, had a right of way over the Hills’ yard under a long-standing agreement dating back to previous owners.
Although initially enjoying a friendly relationship with their neighbour when they moved to Wincanton, Somerset, in 2009, the couple soon objected to him using the right of way, disputing whether it was valid, and started leaving items in the yard, meaning Mr Shortland had to ask the pair to move them or do so himself.
The row escalated further when the Hills decided they would no longer speak to Mr Shortland, other than through solicitors, and called the police.
‘Thereafter, they contacted the police on a regular basis to complain about actions taken by Mr Shortland in relation to accessing over the yard,’ said the judge. ‘Mr Shortland estimates the number of police visits, emails, texts and phone calls is well over 200, involving more than 30 police officers.
‘Mr Shortland and his partner were constantly asked to justify their moving and parking of vehicles and to respond to complaints of swearing at the Hills and their relatives, moving and damaging their property, and more.’
Accusations of intimidation were also made against Mr Shortland and Miss Heritage, but the judge said they were unfounded.
The Hills claimed the right of way clause had originally been included in deeds to enable a previous owner to get to a garage, which they said had long since been demolished.
But the judge ruled that the right was to enable access to the whole property and that the Hills had ‘interfered’ with it by placing items in the way.
The Hills have been ordered to pay 90 per cent of their neighbour’s estimated £98,000 legal bill, as well as their own lawyers’ fees, bringing the total cost of the dispute to £200,000. Mr Shortland said: ‘The outcome seems very fair to us. It’s the right result.’
‘Maximum inconvenience’