Residents put through 'hell' by 'man cave' neighbour

Wildin's classic car collection has taken up much of the space on Meendhurst Road, residents claim

Neighbours of a millionaire jailed for building an unauthorised "man cave" say he has put them "through hell".

Graham Wildin, from Cinderford in Gloucestershire, was sentenced to six weeks in prison last week for refusing to demolish a leisure complex in his garden.

Residents said since February, parking near their homes had been a "nightmare" due to Wildin's classic car collection.

"It's been distressing," said one neighbour.

"It's affected the neighbours emotionally, in some cases physically and it has certainly affected the value of our properties," they added.

They said elderly residents had been forced to wheel their bins up to the one end of the street because bin lorries could not get past the vintage cars.

Some people had also been unable to go to work because one of his cars was parked blocking their driveway.

Residents said the emergency services had struggled to drive down the road because of the vintage cars

Neighbours said Wildin told them he had to park the cars there because of the council's order to soft strip the leisure complex he built without planning permission.

They told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that Wildin would wait until someone drove off just to move one the cars into the space outside their homes.

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said they were pleased that justice was now "starting to be done" after Wildin was jailed on 12 August for failing to comply with a court order.

"The problems the neighbours are experiencing are not going to end," they added.

Wildin built a leisure complex, pictured in 2018, that was visible from a neighbour's window

"The dispute regarding the cars is ongoing and I'm almost loathed to consider how he will punish the neighbours for the court's decision.

"He will be blaming whatever he does to us, he will say it's the judge's fault just like the last time he said it was the council's fault," said the neighbour.

Graham Wildin has been approached for comment.