Family torn apart in war over vintage tractor collection
Dad and son in court over £100k vehicles
A FATHER dragged his son to court in a bitter row over a collection of vintage tractors worth at least £100,000. Former RAF driver Thomas Lowther, 88, and his 51-year-old son Royston once took pride in exhibiting the 80 machines.
But after a feud about a hedge escalated, Royston stopped his father from seeing the vehicles, collected over 40 years. He said he acted in response to his father’s aggression. But Thomas claimed Royston refused any reconciliation and assaulted him. am certainly not the aggressor.’
Darlington County Court has Thomas said his son had ‘betrayed’ now forced Royston to pay Thomas him, adding: ‘I want him naming £1,350 for failing to hand over and shaming, that was the only money after a tractor sale. reason I took him to court. He’s
Judge Michael Coulthard told destroyed three years of my life. He them ‘life’s too short for this sort of said I was unbearable, but this is thing’, but design engineer Royston all fabricated … I still love him.’ refused to shake his father’s The father became interested in hand. When asked whether there tractors as a boy during the Second was any prospect of reconciliation, World War. His 80-strong collection he said, ‘absolutely not’, adding: ‘I including Massey Fergusons and Fordson Majors was the envy of enthusiasts at fairs.
Thomas, who cares for disabled wife Olive, 87, said gathering and maintaining the machines was ‘the great pleasure of my life…something we agreed on, but things went very badly wrong’.
When he retired from a driving school, he put £480,000 into a home for his son in Whinney Hill, County Durham. It had six acres, on which a £55,000 tractor showroom was built. The father gave the money on an understanding he could come as he pleased, and for years visited daily from Darlington.
But a row over hedge maintenance escalated when Royston’s second wife Janine, 45, became involved – and he changed the showroom locks. Thomas claims he offered to sell the collection to Royston for £100,000 but that his son refused. Rare tractors can sell for as much as £70,000.
Royston later sold the fleet, with most proceeds going to his father.
But the pair ended up in court over one sale in 2013. On Monday, the judge ruled there was not enough evidence to suggest Thomas received full payment for a tractor that was sold for £1,850.
The son was ordered to pay £750 plus £600 costs and fees.