Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Man "protects" neighbour's Solar Panels with SPF 50 in the most bizzare neighbour dispute ever

Birmingham, England - Tuesday 4th June -  In February 2012, the Harrison family of Small Heath, Birmingham, England, had photovoltaic Solar Panels installed on the roof of their neat Bungalow (a one storey house) in the city suburb, in order to capture the sun's rays and turn them into electricity in a bid to save money on their energy bills. They were not alone. A Government scheme in place at the time guaranteed that any surplus energy produced could be sold directly to the energy companies at a rate fixed for twenty five years and there was a rush by many householders to install panels before certain cut-off dates. 

For the first three months, the Harrisons' were very happy with their panels. They could see, from a meter provided by the installers, that the panels were producing the four kilowatts of energy promised by the company. However, when readings were taken in July, one of the sunniest months of the year, they demonstrated that the panels were producing hardly any electricity at all. 

Carl Harrison called the installers and asked them to look at the system. The Solar Panel company were completely baffled. They spent a whole day carrying out tests on the transformers, the converters, all of the internal and external wiring and the meters. They could not find any faults. A representative of the manufacturers of the equipment was flown over from Germany, at great expense, to try and get to the bottom of the problem. Thousands of panels were being produced every day and exported all over the world, so a potential problem with panels, or the related equipment, had the potential to cost the firm millions. Again, no solution could be found.

A date was fixed for the panels to be removed and taken back to the manufacturers for more detailed testing in laboratory conditions. However, in the early hours of the morning one day in late July, Carl Harrison, who was having difficulty sleeping, was disturbed by a noise from outside of the house. As he went to investigate, he was about to do what several teams of workmen, boffins and scientists were unable to do - discover the cause of the solar hardware's inability to produce electricity as they were designed to do.

He found his neighbour, Jack Donnelly perched on the top of a pair of step-ladders, in his slippers and dressing gown, smearing sun cream on the panels with the aid of a soft mop. The aim was clear. The factor 50 sun cream "protected" the panels from the rays of the sun. The same rays which produced the electricity for which the panels had been acquired. Because the product was "Non-greasy", it was impossible to spot the coat of protection or know that it was there. This was the second time the neighbour had "topped up" the coat.

The two men had been involved in neighbour disputes for the previous five years, starting with an argument over a Leylandii hedge grown by Mr. Donnelly, which blocked out light from Mr. Harrison's garden. Mr. Donnelly had been ordered to trim, or remove the hedge by a Court Order. The two men had had several arguments since, culminating in the present action.

Mr. Donnelly was found guilty of criminal damage on Friday 31st May and is awaiting sentencing, subject to reports from previous related convictions.
PA

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