Couple’s £200,000 legal bill over access to meter

An elderly couple described as “bombastic” may have to give up their home after losing a £200,000 legal fight to prevent neighbours accessing a shared utilities meter.

Carol and Frank Dickinson, 76 and 82, were so determined to prevent their neighbour reaching the box they protected it with cast iron spikes, although in court they attempted to pass this off as a “decorative feature”.

The couple are now challenging the 2015 costs order in the Court of Appeal.