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.