Karen Thomas's letter........January 2005.......Our nightmare begins.........


Corrupt planning led to changes in our lives - forever.

When we had bought this pretty holding in Carmarthenshire one year ago, we didn't have any idea of the relationship, that was to become apparent, between our neighbours and the local authority's planning department.  This relationship was to bestow upon us years of untold stress, worry and heartache, the like of which that we'd never experienced before in our lifetime.

I'd had no cross words with the Thomases in the one year I had lived here alone, even though they had made my life intolerable.  Whenever our paths crossed, I had always maintained a friendly persona.  I would see them regularly on their yard as I went out, as their daily chores began with their lorry drivers arriving at around 6.0 a.m.  As their office was situated on their yard area, (a portacabin) their day revolved around the office - the haulage business - the stables and the horses. 

Karen Thomas's letter arrived through the post, and I knew immediately when I opened it, it was from her as it was on headed paper.  (See previous post).  I could only bear to scan it as I knew it was going to be deeply unpleasant and disturbing, as it followed on from my rubbish bags being cut, my post mysteriously scattered on the ground and the barbed wire appearing.  The letter sent shivers through me, as was intended.  I felt sick to the pit of my stomach.  I knew instantly that we were going to suffer an even more miserable existence than the year we had already gone through.   Her inexorable changes to our right of way were going to be devastating.  It was obvious from this sarcastic and intimidating letter, life as I had planned was over.  I wanted to pack our belongings and leave, but we had nowhere to go and how would we survive.  How could I continue living here on my own.  Eddie was going to have to give up his business in Sussex much sooner than we had planned, and how was this going to affect our future plans.

I remembered Mr. Ls. letter to the council, notifying them that the hauliers had threatened to alter the right of way if he didn't stop complaining about their operations.  Mr. L. had lived here for twenty six years, but had been lucky enough to sell and move before they'd had the opportunity to fulfil their threats.  Because I had made my concerns known to Carmarthen Council's Enforcement Manager Mr. Brian Canning, we were going to experience this threat being put into practice.  We were not going to be able to move as these reconstructions were imminent.  If this was an attempt to drive us out, it wasn't going to achieve that aim.  In reality these changes to our once pretty right of way were going to prevent any chance of us being able to sell, and were going to trap us here.

Right of Way Summer 2004

 

The Right of Way was approximately twenty meters in length.  Not very long, but very steep.  It was a tarmacadam drive,  approximately fifteen feet wide, with grass verges and grass down the centre. It was the continuation of our private driveway which led directly onto the highway.   It had a hedgerow on one side and post and rail fencing on the other.  Daffodils grew in the verges.  There was a gate either side of the right of way which pulled across making a safe crossing for horses from the neighbours paddock on one side to the large field on the other.  The majority of the horses numbering approximately thirty, lived out in the large field and in the year I had lived here had never seen horses being moved in this way.

Field on right hand side of Right of Way

If two extra gates were going to be put across the Right of Way, and horses left to roam around, how on earth were we going to be able to come and go.  It was going to be impossible.  I couldn't imagine trying to drive through three gates, having to unlock and then lock two of them, whilst manoeuvring several horses out of the way.  Coming home would be every much of a nightmare as going out would be.  Imagining this scenario, I realised I couldn't possibly negotiate such an obstacle course.  It was a hopeless situation something we had no control over.  We most certainly could not sell up and go now. 

Throughout the following week as I went out,  I at first noticed a few Motorway Crash Barriers lying on the verge at the top of the driveway which then grew into piles as the week went on. There also appeared a line of orange paint along the driveway's grass verge which I was later to discover were markers pinpointing water pipes.  The neighbours had it all planned but we just didn't know when!

I was feeling extremely anxious and fearful of what was about to happen, and knew I wouldn't be able to face whatever they had planned, on my own.  For that last week in January I couldn't sleep, dreading what the neighbours had in store and what they were going to do to our only way in and out.

Each and every morning of that last week of January, before the reconstructions began, Andrew Thomas deliberately woke me at around 6.00a.m. by driving his tractor up and down his paddock, each time coming within a couple of meters of my window. He would then attack our right of way in the same manner.  This time of the morning and still being dark made it all the more alarming. The noise was inescapable and was contrived.  The feeling of being totally alone and isolated became overwhelming.   I had to ask Eddie to come up to Wales as this behaviour was putting such fear into me.  I wasn't sleeping, spending the night anticipating what each day was going to bring.  I knew there was no prospect in the local police helping as WPC McWilliams had already told me that if I chose to live next to a farm then I should expect tractor noises. 
If the neighbours intended to make me afraid of them they were succeeding.  It was both depressing and very frightening.  The response from the police made matters worse - psychologically.

The week before!

 Sunday 30th. January - 8.00a.m.    

We had no idea of when the neighbours were going to carry out their threat.   However, on this day, a gang of men headed by Andrew and Karen Thomas entered our R.O.W. with a very large tractor which completely blocked the driveway - the bucket on the front was loaded with huge sturdy posts.   Being on our own - two pensioners - looking up towards this spectacle from our small cottage, felt very threatening.  We obviously couldn't go out now even if  we wanted to or needed to, as the entire driveway was blocked with men and equipment to reconstruct the drive.  They began dismantling the old post and rail fence.

This was to be the Thomas's revenge against my telephone calls to Brian Canning - our pathetic attempt in asking Carmarthen Council why they were allowing this industrial business to operate without planning, and alerting them to the hugely damaging effect it was having upon our lives.  This was to be the consequence!!

I felt sick to my stomach.  I had never experienced such an overwhelming feeling of intimidation and threat as I was feeling now.  I felt so helpless and vulnerable against this obvious vendetta. We were defenceless. All we could do was watch this malicious vandalism taking place throughout the entire day, as the gang of individuals hammered in vast numbers of posts down each side of the driveway, and erected onto the posts crash barriers, two high.  The centre grass and verges had vanished under the huge tyres of the tractor used for the changes to our entrance.    I was distraught and inconsolable, and altho I couldn't eat a thing, felt sick to the pit of my stomach nonetheless.  My eyes were swollen with crying and Eddie was extremely concerned at my mental state.  We were totally on our own, feeling imprisoned in our little cottage with no-one to help us.

Reconstruction to our Right Of Way 2005

By the time they had finished, the pretty driveway was no more.  They had transformed it into an ugly tunnel of metal. There was no grass left, only mud. They had narrowed the drive from fifteen feet wide to just nine feet.  They had run down each side many exceedingly sturdy posts, and attached to them two rows high motorway crash barriers. The two gates that had been threatened in the letter had not been erected yet.  How could two people carry out such vicious acts to people who they'd  already made victims of, to their own anti social behaviour. This was the beginning of a reign of intimidation and and threatening activity that was to last for years.
Andrew Thomas would call this our 'metal enclosure'. 

They had only just begun.............

January 05 - Mr. Bowen on the defensive............?




Mr. Bowens response to my M.P.s letter was hugely defensive of my neighbours and their activities.  A site visit would be carried out but it was obvious Mr. Bowen did not appreciate my M.P. asking questions about my contention that unauthorised activities were taking place at the neighbouring holding, and suggested in his response he was upset at the 'tone' of the letter.  I and others found this to be absurd given the letter was a perfectly legitimate, polite letter, simply putting concerns to him, from a constituent.   Eifion Bowen's response to this letter was confirmation to me that both he and Brian Canning were going to continue their defence of the Thomases and their businesses, no matter how many people complained about them and no matter how visually obvious it all was. 

I felt more uneasy now than before, as the neighbours would officially know that I was feeling very unhappy with how their businesses were affecting our lives, and had sought outside assistance.  I didn't know what to expect, given how others had been intimidated before us because they had complained.  As far as I was concerned I wasn't being given any choice, as I certainly couldn't cope any longer with the disruption to my life.  I wasn't alone in this as the two former owners had very quickly sold up due their many activities which had affected them in the same way. 

Head of Planning Eifion Bowen said "it was difficult to gather evidence because the lorry movements took place outside normal working hours".

Our post box was situated at the top of our drive next to our five bar gate.  Monday morning I went up to retrieve my post only to find my letters scattered on the ground the other side of my gate.  It made my stomach churn, but I wanted to believe the postman had been careless and hadn't put the mail in the tube properly.   Over the course of the next two weeks, I found my post several times again, lying on the ground on the other side of my gate, sometimes soaking wet.  This was something new and had never happened before in the one year I had lived here, therefore it was natural to suspect my neighbours.  In light of the letter from Adam Price my M.P. which had appeared to prompt the shredding of my rubbish bags a few weeks earlier, I had also endured days of quarrying over the Xmas and their dogs were keeping me awake at night too.   As my councillor had now contacted us via our M.P. I alerted him to what had happened, and as I was now a member of the Country Landowners Association I had also made contact with my local representative.  Living alone in an isolated location, completely out of sight of other people, my only neighbours being the Thomases, left me feeling particularly vulnerable and I felt I needed some support.  I told Eddie that I believed our neighbours were doing this to intimidate, but we could solve the problem of them interfering with our mail by purchasing a mail box with a lock.  

During these two weeks I was now being woken up as early as 5.30p.m. from the high revving of Andrew Thomas's tractor, which he would then park on the bank opposite my bedroom window with  it's engine running.  This had to be deliberately contrived to be upsetting, as I couldn't fathom any reason why the tractor, which had always been parked in their top yard, was now being left with it's engine running directly opposite my bedroom window.  It was also a regular occurrence to be woken up during the night by the Thomases guard dogs barking.  Was this the beginning of something I had dreaded.
 
5.50a.m. 15th. January - there was a noise so loud it made me jump out of bed. My bedroom was illuminated from bright lights outside.  I was horrified, as directly facing my bedroom window was Andrew Thomas sitting in his tractor, the row of lights across the cab ablaze, deliberately crashing the huge scoop (which is attached to the tractor arm), up against the lower arm of the machine, not once, but again and again.  This was metal against metal and so loud, I felt sick and very scared. This type of behaviour was completely alien to me and something I had never encountered before.  I had the telephone in my hand ready to call the police, if they came onto my property.

 
The following morning again at 5.45a.m. Andrew Thomas was opposite my bedroom window crashing the tractor scoop against the arm of the tractor, only this time Karen Thomas had joined him and they both had flash lights which they were shining into my bedroom and across my ceiling.  It was very frightening, and went on for about ten minutes.  Again, I wanted to call the police but didn't.

Two days later - 5.30a.m. the Thomases were outside my bedroom again, shining their flash lights into my room and crashing the scoop on the tractor.  Friends were telling me I should be calling the police.   As frightened as I was of the Thomases behaviour I was also frightened it would make them worse, and I was hoping that having vented their feelings towards me that would be the end of it.  I was wrong because two days later it was happening again.  This time I did ring the police as the message from my neighbours was a very threatening one.  What was I supposed to do??

WPC McWilliams rang me from Llandeilo police station and I explained to her the situation with regard to everything that had taken place thus far and why I thought the Thomases were doing this to me.  Her response was quite shocking and pretty much ridiculed my complaint.   She told me that as I had chosen to live adjacent to a farm,  I should expect to hear tractors starting up in the early hours of the morning!!!  When I tried to tell her about the torches being shone into my bedroom, and the crashing of metal against metal, she told me tractors do have lights on them and tractors make a noise.  PC McWilliams defence of the Thomases obvious intimidation, signalled to me that for some inexplicable reason, I was not going to get any support from the local police.  I was devastated especially as the neighbours had a history of bullying and intimidation towards others who had lived here, and two other local residents had also been assaulted. This left me totally exposed and unprotected.  If I had learned in the short while I had lived here that my neighbour had a history of violent behaviour, surely the local police must be aware of it too.

My son was worried about my safety and had come to stay for a few days, and we spoke about getting some security installed.   We went off to Swansea to look at what was available and on our return, we faced a completely different looking driveway from the one we had driven out from.  The driveway was covered in mud!  My neighbour had been up and down it several times with his tractor, making sure there was no grass left on the verges, and the centre which had also been grass was now a muddy mess.  What next was to come?

It seemed the Thomases only needed an excuse to threaten and intimidate, and my contact with my M.P. followed by his letter had given it to them.  I couldn't understand why this highly visible and obvious haulage business was being denied by this council's officers. Why were they turning a blind eye to it and why weren't they listening to local people. What's more, why weren't they concerned about the intimidation to so many people who had voiced their concerns, and surely it was now obvious to them that we were going to be next!!

More barbed wire appeared along our boundary on the day my representative from the CLA visited.  We walked round to where the trees were and I showed her the barbed wire that had been nailed onto more trees along our boundary and asked if she would feel this was intimidation.  She had no hesitation in saying she would feel exactly the way I did.  During our conversation regarding our growing problems, I was able to tell her that Blaenpant had been visited by the Traffic Commission, who had confirmed in a report that the neighbours were indeed running an unauthorised haulage business from their property, however she had been advised that no business rates were being paid.
I had guessed this anyway, because were business rates being paid, Eifion Bowen and Brian Canning would be not be denying this business was operating from next door. 

During this period my councillor informed me the neighbours were going to appeal against the refusal of their shed, but I wasn't to worry as he was confident along with the planning officer they wouldn't get permission as they clearly were not agricultural.  That was pleasing to hear as I didn't want to put in an official objection - life was bad enough.

25th. January - I received a letter from Karen Thomas.  It was telling me that she was going to alter our right of way, and install gates with locks!  This was the worst news possible.  How were we going to go ahead now with our plans.

October 04 .......  Off to Oz.

Oh how I had been looking forward to this holiday to visit my son and his wife on the Gold Coast. This was the break I desperately needed.  The stress of worrying about our future here and whether or not we would be forced into selling up, was taking up all my thoughts.  This holiday would be just the therapy I needed.  A whole month of not having to worry, just enjoying myself.  My sister and I had the most wonderful holiday.  I loved Australia and didn't want to come back.  I certainly understood why my son loved it so much.

 November 04

I came back to cold miserable weather and nothing had changed next door.  The haulage yard was still operating and I was still being woken up at 6.00a.m. from the noise of drivers arriving, car doors being slammed, followed by lorries being driven out. My first weekend back was spent listening to welding, maintenance on HGVs, generators in use, cutting of scrap, a JCB creating a din in the quarry, just business as usual next door.  If I had wanted to listen to industrial noises each and every day I wouldn't have bought this pretty cottage in the countryside!  If someone wanted to make their neighbours unhappy and to ultimately drive them out then this would be the way to do it. I was unhappy to be back to this.

The bank the Thomases were building adjacent to us was getting higher and higher.  Were they hiding something, it seemed such an odd thing to do.  It was a year ago that Andrew Thomas had apologised to me for the noise he was making in creating it, saying it was to stop horses escaping!!

However, great news - the plans for the cattery had been given approval!  I'd also accepted the quote from a person who was going to plant hedgerows for me as I wanted to create four paddocks and to encourage wildlife, something important to me.  I was having doubts about the conversion to the barn due to the goings on next door though.   During another visit from Ceri Davies I voiced my concerns again about the neighbours businesses and that it was worrying due to the money we were about to sink in to the barn conversion..  He told me that Karen Thomas had wanted to put in objections to our plans for the cattery but he had advised her not to, as they weren't valid.  This was a real shock as a cattery wasn't going to create any disturbance and wouldn't even be visible, and she hadn't given me any inkling that she wasn't happy about it when I had told her what we wanted to do.

Knowing now that Karen Thomas had not wanted us to have the cattery, plus having to put up with the noise from lorries, the constant quarrying, worrying about whether or not to carry on with our plans for the barn conversion, it was difficult to stay positive.   It really was decision time.  Do we try to sell up and move, or do we now write to the council and attempt to get something done about our terrible situation.  We knew it would be very difficult to sell as the history of the problems here were already on record.  I decided to meet again with my M.P. and he suggested he write to the council in the hope that with his involvement the council would help.   Now it was official that we had complained.  Up to now I had only spoken to the council's Enforcement Manager Brian Canning, on the telephone.  What will the neighbours do.  Hopefully they would see it as our legitimate right to make our concerns known, as their activities were heavily impacting upon every aspect of our lives.  Surely they would understand, as they knew two families had already been very upset with them and moved because of their activities, which would surely help them accept that they were creating problems for anyone living in our small cottage.  It wasn't unreasonable, or so I thought.   The letter was sent to Mr. Eifion Bowen, who was Head of Planning.  I felt confident that as he was already aware of the many complaints about this haulage business, the quarrying, the maintenance on HGVs, and the obvious violent nature of the Thomases, that he would put a stop to all of it.  After all, four local people had been seriously threatened by these hauliers and the council wouldn't allow this to happen to anyone else.

December 04

Since moving into this cottage, we had always put our four rubbish bags on the grass verge at the top of our driveway, for the bin men to collect, as it was easier to do that, than expect them to come down the long driveway and carry them back up.  I had a hospital appointment this particularly cold and wintry day.   (A carpenter had been fitting a wardrobe for me and I'd managed to fill three bags with paper and wood shavings left over from the work he had finished).  I put these three bags plus my rubbish bag in the boot of my car and dropped them off at the top of my drive as usual.  Upon returning from the hospital, driving down the road toward my home, I noticed that all around the top of my drive, rubbish, strewn everywhere.  I was quite taken aback and wondered how this had happened as it had never happened before.  The rubbish littered the entire length of my driveway.  I immediately knew that my neighbour had done this.  There couldn't be any other explanation.  It certainly wasn't birds, as the rubbish that was inside the bags, mainly consisted of paper and wood shavings. The entire contents of all four bags was strewn around the roadside verge where I had left them, down our Right of Way, and the bags themselves had been thrown over my gate, leaving more debris to be blown around on the inside of my gate and onto my garden area.  My stomach churned, and I felt sick.  I was horrified, as I immediately knew this was a message, a message that my complaint via my M.P. had kick started, possible intimidation.  With the knowledge I had of my neighbours intimidation and threats to others, I felt scared.

I rang a friend straight away, and told her what had happened.  With Eddie still working in Sussex, I felt afraid and completely vulnerable. I didn't have any security cameras nor special security locks, unlike the neighbours who apparently, according to Karen Thomas, had £6.000 of security installed at Blaenpant!   I had no such things.  My friend advised me to log this with the police.  Although I couldn't prove it was my neighbour, it was pretty obvious to me it was, given the history of the bullying of the previous two owners by them. The last thing I wanted was to involve the police.  Having discussed it at length with my friend, and given that I was living here on my own, together with the fact that the neighbours didn't think twice about walking onto my property uninvited, as they had done several times already to round up their escaping horses, I decided I should ring the police.  I explained to the officer the knowledge I had acquired over the year we had lived here.   I explained that my M.P. had recently written to the council, and that I believed it was my neighbours reaction to this letter.  The officer asked me if I would like him to pay them a visit. I told him I didn't wish for this to go any further, I just wanted it logged in case of any further repercussions.  I told him we had not had any arguments thus far with our neighbours, as I didn't see very much of them, only when I was coming and going.   I said they were always very busy with their lorry business, with their horses, or in their office.  I only ever saw them if they were working around their stables or on their yard.  I rang Eddie and told him what had happened, and that I was now feeling very nervous and vulnerable. It was unnerving to say the least, living here on my own.  What a terrible thing to do to someone. I could understand annoyance, but to physically take action against someone, sent fear through me.

Xmas

As well as the terrible worry of this incident, the noise and disturbance from the neighbours operations was getting even worse.  The quarrying was almost daily.  A few hours one day and a few hours another. As well as the dragging down of boulders, the loading of the rock onto lorries was exceedingly noisy.  Mr. L who had previously lived here had reported this activity to the council, as well as another local resident Mr. B.   Mr. Bowen Head of Planning was clearly aware this was a regular activity but had done nothing about it.  We had a short break from it Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but the following day it was hell.  They were quarrying again.  Bearing in mind the quarry was just fifty meters from our small cottage and us being at a lower level, the sound of jack hammers into rock doesn't need any explanation.  It was horrendous.  I just cried.   One whole year of nothing but worry and now a feeling of being under threat.  What a horrid Christmas.

This was to be our retirement home.  The plans we had of a cattery to give us a small income, to keep us active and interested in life were ebbing away.  Mr. Bowen's response to my M.P. was as defensive of my neighbours, as was that of Brian Cannings.   I was quite shocked, as so many others had told him about Blaenpant's activities, as had two previous owners of our property. I could not understand this defence of something that was plain for all to see.  It was worryingly obvious now that the council had no intention whatsoever of doing anything about these unauthorised businesses, and weren't at all concerned about our lives and the effect all this was having upon us, nor the value or saleability of our lovely cottage.  I knew something was terribly wrong, and had a strong feeling of foreboding.  I knew now that we'd made a big mistake in buying this pretty place.

August 04.....and.....Andrew comes off his quad bike

One more attempt to get Brian Canning to accept that the Thomases were operating haulage, and that their other very noisy activities were seriously impacting upon our quality of life.  I recall telephoning him on this day whilst standing in my small paddock which is on high ground, looking across to the area directly opposite our small cottage where the lorries were parked.  There were at least eight.  Brian Canning as usual began by saying he wasn't prepared to monitor Blaenpant as KBHS had an operating centre in Tumble and the lorries were probably only parked at Blaenpant temporarily - and - some of these lorries had probably been delivering feed etc. These absurd excuses kept coming.  The fact that the hauliers were not operating from their official site didn't appear to be of any consequence to Brian Canning.  I informed him that I was standing opposite the parking area and that I was looking across at the numbers of lorries parked there.  I described the scene for him.  There were at least eight lorries.  Five with KBHS livery - a green Kevin Cahill - Doyle was another - and another silver in colour with a green visor.  These lorries were all in regular use.  There was also a huge scrap lorry and at least two flat-beds.  There were also several pieces of plant machinery, and as always a huge pile of tyres ready for burning, containers galore, scrap lying around etc.

I was beginning to feel emotionally upset now as it was abundantly clear that Mr. Canning knew what was taking place, he knew this wasn't a farm,  and he was not going to budge on this protection of my neighbours.  The denial of something so blatantly clear, was deeply hurtful because someone was lying about this business, it obviously wasn't me, but by not accepting what I was saying, implied it was. It left me wondering if Mr. Canning was connected to them in some way.  Why wouldn't I think that.   The council's stance that this was not taking place meant to all the world that  I was lying.  Who was going to believe me if the council maintained this haulage/scrap business was not operating from Blaenpant.  His denials that this haulage business was not operating from Blaenpant angered me somewhat, and left me saying to him "you are lying to me and what makes that worse is that you know, that I know, you are lying to me".  He just laughed and I cried.

We had been living here for eight months and my life was miserable.   Several friends who visited would comment on the noise and tell me that I should be complaining to the council.      The Thomases had plans for Blaenpant, that was obvious.  The continual quarrying away of rock was to create space, but for what. What were the plans for Blaenpant.  It certainly wasn't for farming.   Every day I worried  as I listened to more and more noise that was related to these developments.   I didn't know how their plans were going to affect my life our plans and our home.  As the council were in denial of the haulage business what else would they deny, even though it might impact upon us.  If Brian Canning was comfortable in being dishonest were other officers going to to be as well.   I was now feeling more fearful of the council than the Thomases as I needed help from them not dishonesty.   Although Karen Thomas was still friendly to me, Andrew on the other hand was appearing to be a little hostile, which could suggest that they were being told about my phone calls. As Brian Canning was clearly pro Blaenpant for whatever reason, it was reasonable to assume he may be talking to them about my calls to him.

I decided it was time to ask for help from another source, as the council were not going to change their minds about my concerns.

I met with my M.P. Adam Price in August 2004.

I explained how vulnerable I felt living next door to the Thomases, given the knowledge I now had of them, and for obvious reasons would not want any form of confrontation with them.    It would be obvious that I couldn't approach them.  Others had, and had suffered some pretty malicious intimidation from them.  I explained that had we known about the type of business being conducted from the farm we would never have bought this property.  As our searches hadn't provided evidence of a haulage business at Blaenpant, I was relying on the local authority to help us but it was clear they weren't going to.    My M.P. was very sympathetic and agreed it was totally unacceptable that these unauthorised activities were being allowed to continue.  He thought it was a disgrace that the authority hadn't done anything to help.  He said he would write to the council on my behalf.   I felt quite relieved that at last someone was believing me.  I felt confident now that something would be done and I wouldn't have to suffer the wrath of my neighbours as the authority would have to take full responsibility.  Surely they would now finally accept that this haulage business should not be operating without rightful planning permissions, and proper procedures would be followed.   I felt that now my M.P. was involved, the council would do the right thing.   Brian Canning's protection of my neighbours left me no other choice but to seek help, and although it was still troubling me that the Thomases would be angry, I believed that due to the history of intimidation and threats to others, the council would not allow that to happen again. 

As I was going away for a month in October, I suggested that my M.P. hold off on the letter to the council until my return in November.   It might even be the case that matters would have improved by that time.

September 04


Wonderful news, the massive shed that was so worrying to us had been refused!  It would seem our worries were in part over.  We still had the disturbance of living next to a haulage yard, and all the awfulness of that, but maybe, just maybe the local authority would now deal with that and put a stop to it.

It was a beautiful day and the day I had been informed the neighbours shed had been refused.  I was in our paddock playing with our dogs. We hadn't long had our lovely puppy Bedlington Terrier, Josh.  He was a joy and having a lovely time playing with our two other dogs Millie and Teddy. 

As our paddock is on on higher ground I have a view of Blaenpant, from the house situated at the top end, to the area of the quarry directly opposite our cottage at the other.  All of a sudden there was a great roar of an engine coming from the neighbours yard. A lot of high revving continued and I saw a quad bike being driven hell for leather down from the neighbours top yard, near the house, down toward the old quarry area where the lorries are parked.  It was travelling at high speed.  As the vehicle flew round the corner into the open quarry, I could hear that the quad bikes engine had stopped racing and saw what I believed to be Andrew Thomas fly through the air!  All I could actually see was a flash of yellow.  This would be his high visibility yellow jacket that he wore every day.  He must have overturned the quad bike and had been thrown from it.  I took the dogs inside and tried ringing Karen Thomas as she mightn't have seen this happening.  I was concerned that Andrew Thomas could be seriously hurt.  As I couldn't get a reply, I decided I must go over to Blaenpant to see if everything was O.K.   I  couldn't see anyone up by the house so continued down towards the quarry area where I could see A. Thomas attempting to stand up. The quad bike was still on it's side and Karen was now with him and said he'd been rendered unconscious.  I suggested he should go to hospital and be checked over.   Andrew Thomas was raging.  He was behaving like a madman. He was swearing  f.......ing and blinding that she should right the quad bike.  She was trying to calm him down but he was having none of it.   He was completely enraged and behaving like a madman.  He was outwardly hostile towards me even though I had shown concern for his welfare. I didn't know what to say and felt very uncomfortable in their presence.  Karen Thomas tried to make excuses for his shocking behaviour.  He was still swearing at her as I walked away.  I was to find out later that this was the day he had been informed their planning application for the massive shed had been refused.  He was probably thinking that I was in some way to blame, even though I had not put in an objection.