Man parks tank outside Wickes in row over kitchen
A man who parked a tank outside Wickes in a protest over his kitchen has been told it will be removed in 14 days - but he's still not budging.
Paul Gibbons, 63, drove the vehicle to the Basingstoke store in an ongoing dispute over a "poor quality" £25,000 kitchen installation at his home last February.
He is demanding a refund after claiming the kitchen is riddled with problems, including mould under the sink, badly fitting units with a poor finish and one heavy drawer nearly collapsing on his dog. The tank is a 1963 decommissioned Abbot self-propelled gun, which he borrowed from a friend who lends it to people wanting to protest against big companies.
He parked the tank outside the Basingstoke branch after claiming his new kitchen is riddled with problems (No credit)Mr Gibbons parked it outside the store on December 27, and declared he won't move it until he gets a refund. A sign has now been posted on the vehicle warning that it will be removed 'within 14 days' of the date of the notice which is January 23.
But Paul says the tank is still not going anywhere. He said: "I intend to stay as long as it takes for justice. I find it bizarre that Wickes can choose which bits of the law they will obey. The tank is there as a peaceful protest. If they wish it to be moved there is a simple solution pay me back what they have of mine and my out-of-pocket expenses."
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An acrostic sign on his tank blasts the kitchen supplier (No credit)He added: ''I am not looking for huge amounts of compensation, I just want to be back to where I was last year when this debacle started. I find it obscene that having money, therefore power, makes them think that they are above the law."
Mr Gibbons said he will contact the police if Wickes tries to remove or destroy the vehicle. An acrostic sign for 'Wickes' he has placed on the military vehicle reads: 'Warning Incompetent Complacent Kitchen Equipment Supplier.'
But the new warning sign on the tank states: “This vehicle / item as been notified to us as being abandoned and / or not having valid road tax and will be removed within 14 days of this notice being issued. If this vehicle is not abandoned, please contact us on the below number immediately and / or arrange for it to be removed from site.” It warns that failure to remove the vehicle within 14 days will result in it being “sold or destroyed”.
A spokesperson for Wickes said: "We arranged a full and independent inspection of Mr Gibbon’s kitchen by The Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman. Their assessment was that 2-3 days remedial work would be required to bring the kitchen up to a satisfactory standard and we have contacted Mr Gibbons to progress this.
"However, as the safety and wellbeing of our team members is our number one priority, and following incidents when Mr Gibbons has demonstrated unacceptable and aggressive behaviour towards members of our team, we reported these incidents to the police and took the decision to issue him with an exclusion notice preventing him from entering our premises. Unfortunately, Mr Gibbons has failed to comply with the exclusion notice.
"As the tank remains on our premises we are operating within our legal rights to issue the owner with a TORT notice. This requires that it is removed from our premises within 14 days, and if it is not we will have it removed by a specialist company. We would like to apologise to customers who have been inconvenienced or concerned by the tank in any way."
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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