A 30-YEAR dispute over neglected trees culminated in a court battle on Tuesday.
The disagreement between warring Outwood neighbours David Strudwick and Milan Simek has raged on and off for more three decades.
It came to a head this week when Mr Simek was ordered to pay £2,295 by Redhill magistrates for not cutting back his trees when requested, breaching a legal notice issued by Tandridge District Council.
It required a cluster of seven trees to be trimmed by September last year so they were no more than five or six metres high.
When council officers measured them in January last year, they had reached a height of up to 8.99 metres, the court heard.
Mr Simek failed to co-operate with the notice and was this week prosecuted for non-compliance.
In a victim impact statement Mr Strudwick, who lives in Rookery Hill, said: "My family and I have experienced distress and anxiety over this. A 50ft tree of Mr Simek's fell in my garden about 30 years ago, and other trees later hit my car and my garage.
"Many letters were exchanged on the issue with Mr Simek. I can't say whether the stress over the trees affected my wife's terminal illness but it certainly didn't help."
Mr Strudwick lodged a complaint with the council back in 2008 – but it took six years to get to the stage of prosecution.
"All this over a row of trees. it was an unwelcome and unnecessary distraction from what was most important."
In response, Mr Simek, 71, told the court: "The trees did not just fall down. They were blown down in storms. Neither my wife nor I knew anything about his wife's illness. The assumption that we did is cruel. To be regarded as a tree bully is just ridiculous. These are 85-year-old trees and to try to do something with them is not easy. I apologise unreservedly for any inconvenience this might have caused anybody."
Magistrates fined Mr Simek £1,100 and ordered him to pay £1,085 costs and a £110 victim surcharge. After the hearing, Mr Strudwick told the Mirror: "The fines show the court takes a dim view of how Mr Simek handled the whole issue. I'm glad that at last something has been laid down in law that can be referred to in court if there is a future breach."
He said the trees had finally been reduced to the desired height over the "last couple of weeks".
