Million-pound house 'ruined' by spilled kerosene

Updated
The McArthur's converted barn.
The McArthur's converted barn.



A Kent couple are claiming that their £1 million home has been ruined by a bungling fuel delivery driver, and are suing the company for £600,000.

Anna and John McArthur say they've been left with contaminated land and a persistent smell after the house was flooded with 500 litres of kerosene.

The delivery driver had inadvertently filled a new, unconnected, fuel tank at the converted 15th century barn in Hawkhurst, rather than the old one.

And the McArthurs say that the oil has contaminated their garden, a stream and the soil under their four-bedroom home so badly that it needs to be underpinned.

Two years on, they say, there's still a pungent smell, and they have been left suffering from insomnia and headaches.

According to the World Health Organisation, long-term exposure to kerosene can cause irritability, problems with balance, drowsiness and dermatitis.%VIRTUAL-ArticleSidebar-property-guide%

The McArthurs are now suing Certas Energy, which owns delivery company Butler Fuels.

"It was supposed to be our dream home and we had only been living there for a few months before this happened. And if we want to move we can't, and it's so frustrating. We are sitting on a building site," Mrs McArthur, a business analyst at a charity, tells the Daily Mail.

"Now it's unmortgageable and it's worth about £600,000 to developers. We bought this as our dream home and it has turned into our nightmare home in reality."

The trench around the house.
The trench around the house.



The couple moved into the house in 2013 and ordered a new fuel tank, but didn't get it fitted immediately. The delivery driver was told to put the kerosene in the old tank, but used the new one instead, says Mrs McArthur.

"I arrived home and I could smell kerosene. I thought I just missed the oil delivery," she says.

"I went to the tank behind the garage and there was no oil in there. I thought, 'Oh my god they have delivered it into the wrong tank'."

The house is now surrounded by a trench designed to drain the fuel away. But while Certas admits responsibility, it is disputing the £600,000 claim, saying that the ground underneath the house is unaffected.

Family Returns From Vacation to Find Squatters in Their Home
Family Returns From Vacation to Find Squatters in Their Home



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