Lucies Farm and The Police State

On 13 August 2008 we sent an e-mail to every customer whose dog had ever stayed at the Lucies Farm Luxury Dog Hotel. We have been overwhelmed, and truly touched, by the outpouring of support from our customers. I will, in the course of the next few days, compile extracts from some of the wonderful e-mail messages we received, as well as some of the comments sent back to the folks at the Worcestershire County Council.

Our 13 August 2008 e-mail follows:

Lucies Farm Dog Resort & The Police State
Questionnaire from Worcestershire Trading Standards

Dear Customer ---

We don't routinely send out "mass" e-mail messages, so I hope you will excuse us for doing so today. We understand that many of our customers have received a letter and questionnaire today from the Worcestershire Trading Standards Department. As one customer e-mailed me a little while ago, "I won't lie to you I'm as curious as hell, are you allowed to divulge info?" So to satisfy his curiosity, and yours, here are the details:

What It's Like To Live Next to the Neighbour from Hell
Marjorie Tells Me "A Bully Is Never Satisfied"

We have a neighbour who has never been fond of dogs. She's lived here since 1986, and we since 1989. It's one of those awkward situations where we also own the land virtually up to her front door. To give you an idea of her proximity to our house, there's an aerial photograph on our website.

Hers is the house in the lower right-hand corner of the photograph. We own the track coming off the road, so you can see how it runs right by her front door and kitchen window.

This track is also a public footpath, and we've made it easier for dog walkers by installing a "kissing gate" at the top of the track (not shown in this photo --- it would be above the upper left-hand corner). The dog walkers --- from the housing estate across the street, and our own colleagues --- unfortunately drive her crazy. The photo also doesn't show that her house has no land on the other side (west). But that's the way it was when she bought the property --- so I see little point in her complaining about the situation.

She's contrived a notion that when dogs arrive we show their owner a "nice" kennel, and then take the dogs into a secret cave somewhere where they spend the rest of their stay. We have had, over the years, repeated visits by Council officials, and have always cooperated with them. We have, on many occasions, walked with the officials all over the farm --- letting them search for the hidden cave.

I have pointed out, of course, that we have 24/7 webcams where owners can (and do) watch their dogs. And we take numerous photos of the dogs during their visits, and post them in our online photo gallery (www.bark.ch and, more recently, www.hmdp.net).

We have offered to install Class 1 noise monitoring equipment and give the Council 24/7 access to it via the internet. The Council said this wasn't necessary: they installed noise monitoring equipment in our neighbour's home for three weeks, and there wasn't a single instance where we breached the rules. We have provided the Council with the passwords for our webcams, and have also given them access to our online booking system where they can monitor reservations in real-time.

In early January 2008, on one of the rare days when Marjorie and I weren't on the farm (we were returning a couple of dogs to their home in Bath), the District and County councils raided our property --- I understand 15 of them arrived. RSPCA vets, DEFRA vets, and even computer forensic experts. We have obtained a copy of the video that they made --- you can hear them laughing and having a grand time in the background. They found nothing untoward.

But they did exceed the scope of their authority by entering our home. We have obtained leading counsel's opinion that the two Councils trespassed by coming into our house. Our dwelling is on a separate piece of land, owned by Marjorie and me personally. And we do not have "farm offices" in the house. We understand that they took a copies of our hard drives, including the server, and that would have given them access to our Sage accounting system --- and, hence, your name and address.

I can assure you that we are fully registered under the Data Protection Act, and would not have provided your confidential information to them unless compelled to do so.

Our legal insurers, Chubb Masterpiece, have confirmed that the trespass into our dwelling is a covered event, and we are about to file suit against the Worcestershire County Council and Malvern Hills District Council for trespass --- and the return of our data.

Other than a single customer (who paid us with a Stg 1,400 cheque that bounced) we have not had any complaints from people who do business with us. In the case of the customer with the bounced cheque, we had no choice but to sue them in the Small Claims Court. They hired a solicitor and barrister, but the judge found entirely in our favour --- and awarded us our Stg 1,400 plus all costs.

Having to Call The Police
I'd Rather The Police Concentrated on Real Crimes

On the advice of our solicitor, Richard Slade at Bracher Rawlins in London, we have now started to call the police when we have our neighbour yelling at us. I feel bad taking up police time on such trivial matters, but you can imagine the distress her actions have caused Marjorie and me.

I was recently having a meeting with the Chief Surveyor of Central Networks (the electric distribution company in our area) on our property and she came out and interrupted it, and started shouting at me about an oak tree in our front garden. I came into the house, trembling.

I understand that the police have had stern words with her, and we are considering a civil action to obtain a restraining order against her.

If you do respond to the Trading Standards questionnaire, it would be very helpful to us if you would consider sending us a copy of your reply. It can be scanned and send to us by e-mail, or faxed to us at 01905-676-790, or sent to us by snail mail to our address on the left.

One of our customers called me a little while ago to say, "What business is it of the Council how much I pay to have my dogs stay with you?" I guess I don't know how to answer that question, except to say that we seem to be moving each day towards the East German model of government, complete with our own version of the Stasi.

We hope that you have been pleased with our service. If you have any concerns that were not addressed by this message, please don't hesitate to call either Marjorie or me at 01905-830-380 and we will do all that we can to be of assistance.

As an American, but one who has lived in the UK for 22 years, I can't begin to say how disappointed I am by the actions of the government in this matter. Marjorie, our colleagues, and I pride ourselves in running what we believe to be the best dog resort in the country --- second to none. You might be interested in this Case Study from David Key's recent book (this is 1.4 KB download).

You would think that the Council could find a better use for rate payers' limited funds. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Thanks for listening, and for your understanding.

Craig