Report on incident at Low Moor Farm 15/12/1998

From those sources it appears National Grid claim that

a) NGC surveyors entered Low Moor Farm with the farmer's agreement;

b) a fork lift truck was driven at three NGC employees hitting all three, knocking at least one to the ground and injuring one;

c) the employee was treated at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton;

d) the injuries were bruising to the right forearm;

e) the police were informed by NGC with a view to a formal complaint.

I have today spoken with the farmer's son James Thompson whose account is:

a) when he arrived at the farm the main farm access driveway was blocked by a large low-loader so he had to go round the back way to get in; his father arrived about ten minutes later;

b) he was concerned because there were lambs in a field;

c) about 8 NGC personnel were active on the farm without the permission or knowledge of the farmer; they had said they were coming on Monday afternoon "like it or not" although the farmer had protested it was too wet; in the event they arrived unannounced Tuesday morning;

d) he (James Thompson) felt the number of people over the farm was overwhelming and overpowering;

e) he approached them as their sampling vehicle was being driven on the land and asked them to stop;

f) they continued driving the vehicle which made contact with him, pushing him along at about 2 mph;

g) he asked to see their paperwork but they showed nothing; they behaved in an off-hand manner as if they could do as they pleased; they stood there and said they were in now so they would not give way; they first ignored requests to move the low-loader and seemed to expect they could leave it there for hours;

h) the low loader on the drive was blocking the farmers' access so they had to waste time while NGC backed it out to allow a farm vehicle in;

i) James Thompson drove a fork lift truck carrying sheep hay and had to cross the road and enter a field; two NGC men were leaning on a car while a third stood in the entrance to the field obstructing the fork lift truck, causing James Thompson to veer around him within the space available, and the NGC man stepped aside; no-one was hit and no-one fell to the ground;

j) James Thompson then went in to the field with the truck and fed the lambs; on returning through the gateway the NGC man shouted "you bloody bastard" and James Thompson didn't dare get out to shut the gate; he felt intimidated especially with such a large gang of NGC men.