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.