"Builder tears down family's roof"

Royden Toon, from Skegness, spent five hours tearing materials from the Barlborough house roof until he was talked down by police. Mr Toon claimed he was taking back his materials after homeowner James Arthur refused to pay fully for his extension. Mr Arthur said he held back payment until the work was done satisfactorily. The dispute over a £15,000 extension has been running between the two parties for five years. Witnesses said Mr Toon and another man climbed on to the roof of Mr Arthur's house, off Chesterfield Road and started pulling off tiles, ripping out insulation and breaking off most of the wooden roof joists. Mr Toon initially ignored police requests to come down, according to onlookers, but climbed off the roof after being told he could be prosecuted for criminal damage.

He said: "He wouldn't pay so I went to take my materials back off the roof. "I gave him a letter telling him what I was going to do, he walked off and that was it." Mr Arthur said: "We had to terminate his contract." He added the work had not been done satisfactorily and was six months late in completion. "He was on a fixed fee, of which he received just over three quarters of the money and he hadn't got the finances to progress the works satisfactorily." The house was left with a hole in the roof. Insp Dave Strong said: "We had considerable negotiations with these gentlemen; they were taken off the property and arrested, helping us with inquiries." Our main concern was the safety of the two gentlemen and ourselves."

After reading this it goes to show how desperate some people are and what lenghts they go to. Usually if communication is open on all sides often matters will resolve between the two parties - to see the full article http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/derbyshire/8267763.stm

Tuesday, 22 September 2009 14:26