Man who parked tank outside Basingstoke Wickes store forced to remove it
WATCH: A tank is driven through the streets of Basingstoke after being parked in a Wickes car park for more than 40 days.
A disgruntled customer, who made headlines when he parked a tank in front of a Wickes store in Basingstoke, has been forced to remove the vehicle after being served a court order.
Paul Gibbons from Kingsclere spent £25,000 on a new kitchen, which he claims was left incomplete and dangerous.
He said he's been left in a difficult financial situation, as the state of the kitchen means he can't rent out his home and downsize, as originally planned.
In retaliation, Mr Gibbons rented the tank from a friend and parked it outside the Wickes store, where it has been since December.
But a court order giving Mr Gibbons 14 days to move the vehicle from the premise, means he had to arrange for the tank to be returned to its owner.
The company has also banned him from entering any Wickes store in the country.
Mr Gibbons said: "Financially, I’m broke, absolutely broke. I’ve gone from having money in the bank to not being able to pay my mortgage.
"The support I’ve had from normal people has made me feel a lot better. It’s 42 days of being outside in the cold by the tank, trying to talk to people that’s made me like this, so yeah, not in a good way.
"Now we're going to go forward and try to get a group of us together, so that there's going to be more strength in numbers. I'm going to carry on with the fight, the fight's not stopped because at the end of the day, they still have my money and I still do not have my kitchen."
Since ITV Meridian last spoke to Mr Gibbons, Wickes has carried out an independent inspection of his kitchen.
The company has offered to pay for two to three days of remedial work, plus compensation, which Mr Gibbons has refused.
In a statement, Wickes said: "We arranged for 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. They also noted that some of the damage to the kitchen was caused by Mr Gibbons himself.
"Following this independent guidance, we offered to pay for the cost of the remedial works, plus an additional sum as compensation. Both of which he has rejected.
"As well as parking the tank outside our store, he has personally demonstrated unacceptable and aggressive behaviour towards members of our team. As the safety and wellbeing of our team members is our number one priority we immediately reported these incidents to the police and increased security measures at the store.
"We are pleased to see that he has now taken the decision to remove the tank from our premises and would like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience or concern that the presence of the tank may have caused.
"Our offer remains open to Mr Gibbons if he wishes to complete the remedial works to his kitchen and receive the compensation."
Mr Gibbons said he denies the claims made by Wickes.
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