SENATOR Ben Shenton wants the States to pay almost £300,000 in compensation to a couple who face huge legal bills after a long court battle.
He has tabled a proposition to pay Reg Pinel and his wife, who own Reg’s Skips Ltd, a total of £297,469 in compensation for the bill they have been left with after a legal fight. The Senator says that failures by the Planning department and the judiciary are responsible for the bill that the Pinels face. They moved the skip business to Heatherbrae Farm in St John in 2006 on the advice of the Planning department. But when they started operating the business, their neighbours complained about the noise.
The Senator says that the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache, advised the neighbours to use an old ‘bad neighbour’ law, or voisinage action, against Reg’s Skips.
He says that the Bailiff had a family connection to the neighbours — their children have played in a band together for five years — and that he also sat as judge on the voisinage action that he himself had advised them to take.
The action was successful, and Reg’s Skips were told to stop working at the site. The couple were left with a bill for lawyers running to £300,000.
Pictured: Reg and Rita Pinel
