Crofter star of TV documentary loses £500,000 damages claim after tripping on slab

A CROFTER whose hardy Highland lifestyle featured in a television documentary has lost a damages claim against a local authority after he tripped on a paving slab.

Iain Pocock and his wife Sasha were on a visit to Inverness when he caught a foot on the raised edge of a slab and he fell with his left leg giving way leaving him in excruciating pain.

Mr Pocock found that the injury impacted on his ability to carry out tasks at the croft at Cougie, near Tomich, in Inverness-shire, where the family led a self-sufficient life.

He raised an action at the Court of Session in Edinburgh against Highland Council, suing for £500,000 compensation following the injury he sustained on February 9, 2012.

The local authority, which denied liability, said that during 2012 and the following year Mr Pocock and his family were the subject of a BBC documentary: “Power to the Pococks: A year in the life of a crofting family.”

In its defences to the action it said: “The pursuer’s wife in particular, during the documentary, discusses the fact that they rely on (their) own generator for power and that they cannot be linked to the national grid other than at significant expense. There is reference to them being quoted up to £230,000 for them to be connected and the pursuer’s wife says they do not have that money unless they ‘win the lottery’.”