Wedding venue is hit by ban after revellers ‘terrorise’ local village
SET in stunning countryside and surrounded by perfectly manicured gardens, it should be the perfect place to get married.
But now the owners of a Scots country estate have been ordered to stop hosting weddings following a barrage of complaints about unruly guests and stampeding cows.
Residents of Luthrie, Fife, claim that wedding guests at nearby Carphin House have been found vomiting and urinating in the village, while others have frightened livestock by setting off fireworks.
Council chiefs have won Scottish Government backing to hit the venue with an enforcement notice ordering it to stop hosting weddings.
The owners of the 18th century mansion, Ian and Ruth Macallan, had claimed the business would create jobs and generate millions for the local economy.
They promised the venue would be of ‘exceptional quality’ and could cater for up to 200 people, providing a muchneeded facility in the area.
But horrified villagers told how rowdy revellers had ‘devastated’ the place and were making their lives a misery.
A local farmer even complained that fireworks had sparked a stampede of cattle, which smashed their way out of a field and ran two miles in the dark.
Fife Council ruled Carphin House had breached planning rules by operating as a wedding venue and building an unauthorised car park.
The Macallans appealed to the Scottish Government but officials ruled against them, citing a ‘large measure of local concern’, and ordered the wedding parties to stop within a month.
Angry locals Linda and William Telford detailed how drunken wedding guests terrorised their village. They said: ‘After the wedding on August 25, 2018, the antisocial behaviour by wedding guests waiting in Luthrie for taxis was completely unacceptable.
‘Female guests were seen urinating on grass verges and other guests were sick over garden fences. Luthrie is a very small, quiet village and no one should have to put up with this sort of behaviour.’
Resident Gordon Cuthill said it is ‘essential for the continuing tranquillity of the village’ that the functions be banned, and added: ‘The noises of distress from the cattle only adds to the noises from the functions.’
Another resident said yesterday: ‘They’ve made a lot of people’s lives a misery here. They’ve devastated the place. We’ve put up with enough. It’s horrendous.
‘They’re wanting a wedding with 200 people to make quick money. I’m not convinced it will stop.’
While another added: ‘I am delighted with the outcome of the appeal but feel sorry for the brides that still have weddings booked.
‘They’re still advertising online until 2020. It’s vital the council enforces the notice, the weddings are cancelled and the couples get their deposits back. The community has been terrorised and bullied by these people.’
A spokesman for Carphin House said the couple would consider contesting the Government’s decision at the Court of Session and added: ‘We will absolutely take all legal avenues to prevent this incredible miscarriage.’
‘They threw up over garden fences’