Couple’s £100k bill after suing over lantern

A COUPLE are facing a £100,000 bill after they unsuccessfully sued their neighbours over a decorative lantern outside their holiday home in Kent.

Frances Pollard, a former policewoman, and her husband, Graham, who are pensioners, were taken to court by their neighbours, Roger and Margaret Hunt. Mr and Mrs Hunt complained a vintage decorative carriage lantern attached to the back of the Pollards’ house was interfering with their “quiet enjoyment” of their home by keeping them awake at night.

The neighbours, both 80, took the couple to court to try to get the light categorised as an official public “nuisance” – a move that could have seen Mr and Mrs Pollard face criminal proceedings had they continued to operate it.

Now the couple have been left with a court bill of about £100,000 after losing their fight at the High Court.

The row began when the Pollards moved the lantern from the side of their second home in Deal, where it had been for nine years without being used, to the back of the house in December 2021.

Ian Rees Philips, the Hunts’ barrister, told Mr Justice Bourne that the former Pc and her husband turned on the light on Dec 23, drawing immediate complaints from their neighbours.

The Hunts told them the light was a “nuisance” and they intended to take legal action if it continued to be turned on. But the Pollards, who had inserted a small plastic shield to block the direct glare of the light onto their neighbours’ windows, emailed the next day, stating: “We don’t consider that the light causes a nuisance ... we reserve the right to switch the light on or off at any time”.

The Pollards “then operated the lantern ... all night for the next 16 nights on a dusk-until-dawn basis of around 4pm to 8am every day,” Mr Rees Philips said. “Mr and Mrs Hunt had to have their curtains drawn and had their room lit up at night, meaning they ... were regularly being kept awake at night.”

A second, bigger shield was installed, but the Hunts were still unhappy and took their case to Folkestone magistrates’ court. They applied under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to have the light classified as a statutory nuisance but the Hunts’ case was rejected after a three-day trial.

Dismissing their appeal in the High Court, Mr Justice Bourne said: “The appellants have not shown that the magistrates made any error of law.”

Mr and Mrs Hunt, who were not in court for the appeal, were ordered to pay most of the costs, having already footed the cost of the trial.