A church-going grandmother has been left ‘bankrupt and destitute’ after a row over how she parked her Ford Focus with her neighbour – ending with her losing her home.
Retired primary school teacher Marie Potter, 75, revealed how she was evicted from her semi-detached home in a leafy south London suburb after falling out with next door neighbour Kirsten McGowan, 65.
The pair were at loggerheads over the way Mrs Potter parked her blue Ford hatchback outside her property, which had been her home for 25 years and was once worth more than £600,000.
Mrs Potter claims she was the victim of a campaign of intimidation after divorcee Mrs McGowan’s youngest son Martin passed his driving test and complained he wasn’t able to manoeuvre around her vehicle to park his car in the garage, which was at the bottom of a shared driveway between their homes.
Mrs Potter – a devout Roman Catholic who has dedicated her life to the church – claims the feud began eight years ago when she alleges she was assaulted on her driveway by her neighbour’s son.
Charges were dropped and she was later accused of harassing her neighbour in a civil case over rights of access.
A bitter legal wrangle followed which astonishingly ended in Mrs McGowan – who was formerly married to a police officer and has worked as a receptionist at Bromley Police Station – taking control of Mrs Potter’s home.
The impoverished pensioner has been left with debts of nearly £200,000 – which she says are rising with each day – over the six-year battle in the courts.
Retired primary school teacher Marie Potter, 75, told how she was evicted from her semi-detached home in a leafy south London suburb after running up a huge legal bill in a row with her neighbour over how she parked her Ford Focus
Mrs Potter claims that at first she got on well with her neighbour Kirsten McGowan, 65, but eventually things changed when divorced Mrs McGowan’s youngest son Martin passed his driving test – and complained he wasn’t able to manoeuvre around her Ford Focus
Mrs Potter bought her former home in Croydon, south London for £130,000 when Mrs McGowan was already living there. The women were neighbours for 25 years. Their properties share a driveway which leads to their own garages. Each neighbour had rights of access over the other’s part of the driveway, although Mrs Potter claims there was no need for that
Mrs Potter claims the feud began eight years ago over how she parked her hatchback when she alleges she was assaulted on her driveway by her neighbour’s son. Charges were dropped and she was later accused of harassing her neighbour in a civil case over rights of access
Speaking for the first time of the ordeal after losing her latest case at the High Court last week she told the Daily Mail: ‘I never wanted a war with my neighbour – but all the way along the line they have been vicious and vindictive.
‘It’s beyond my comprehension how somebody could be so vicious. It’s pure evil.
‘To be allowed to take over a house worth £600,000 in this way is just ridiculous.
‘I don’t understand how the law has worked in such a way that has enabled her to do this.
‘There must be something wrong with a system that allows one neighbour to take control of another neighbour’s house, and their life, over a parking dispute.’
She added: ‘This has been about throwing an old lady out on the streets – and nobody cares.
‘It’s escalated and escalated because I haven’t had the wherewithal to fight it.
‘The way things stand now I’m destitute. I’m actually bankrupt and destitute.’
Mother-of-three Mrs Potter told how she would be living on the streets if it hadn’t been for the kindness of friends and fellow members of the church-going community.
For the past two years she has been living rent free at the home of a fellow worshipper while £650 of her £900 monthly pension goes towards the costs of storing her belongings which were imposed upon her during proceedings.
She said: ‘I haven’t got much time left.
‘I’ve got skin cancer, my blood pressure is shot and I can’t tolerate the tablets. I’m really unwell. This has taken a real toll on my health.
‘I don’t know how I’ve got through it. I’ve been tempted at times just to drive my car into a tree and be done with it all.
‘If it wasn’t for my faith and my friends I think I would have done that by now.
‘What’s happened to my life seems surreal. Even if I had been parking awkwardly, do you think I deserve all this?’
Mrs Potter, who has three grandchildren, told how she and the McGowans had been next door neighbours since 1998 when she moved into her three-bedroom 1930’s home in Shirley, near Croydon.
She bought the property for £136,000 in 1998 after divorcing her accountant husband Francis who has since died.
The two properties share a driveway which leads to their own garages. Each neighbour had rights of access over the other’s part of the driveway, although Mrs Potter insists that was not necessary as there was plenty of room to avoid doing so.
Mrs Potter told how she drove a Ford Mondeo estate when she moved in while her neighbour had a ‘great big’ Ford Galaxy people carrier and there had never been any major problems between them.
Indeed, it appears that for many years, Mrs Potter, who has three daughters, and Mrs McGowan, who has three sons, managed to get along together.
Mrs Potter lived quietly, devoting much of her time attending to religious matters and would, on a daily basis, attend nearby St Mark’s Roman Catholic Church – where she is a safeguarding officer and sacristan.
But she told how her life was plunged into a nightmare after Martin passed his driving test and bought a silver Toyota.
She told how her neighbour would appear outside the property when she parked her car while monitoring the situation on powerful CCTV cameras which had been installed outside the McGowans’ home.
Matters finally boiled over in March 2018 when police were called to the scene after Mrs Potter alleged she was assaulted by the neighbour’s son after he had stood behind her as she tried to drive off.
The two women – Mrs McGowan (left) and Mrs Potter (right) – ended up taking their neighbour dispute case to Bromley County Court in August 2020. Mrs Potter was ordered to pay £70,000 in costs and damages when the debt was charged to her home – but the money was never paid
Mrs Potter told the Daily Mail that the issue about the way she parked her car arose during the winter when she would leave it at the front of her drive, but then at night would move it down the drive to protect it from frost. This angered her neighbour’s son who couldn’t drive around it, she said
Matters boiled over in March 2018 when police were called to the scene after Mrs Potter alleged she was assaulted by the neighbour’s son after he stood behind her as she tried to drive off
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She said: ‘I don’t like arguments. I don’t like conflict. I’d much rather keep out of the way but the son had an issue with me parking in the driveway next to the house.
‘I always parked the car in front of my house which wasn’t a problem for him but at night I would move it down the side in winter because it was more sheltered there and didn’t get so frozen up.
‘The problem seems to be that he can’t drive and he said he couldn’t get past to put his car in the garage.
‘Nobody else has had a problem getting round my car. My brother has backed up his car, my daughter has done it, my grandson got past easily when he was a learner driver.
‘One of the police officers who came down said he “couldn’t park a gnat on an aircraft carrier”.
‘I tried to be understanding. I said “If you want me to move the car, if you’ve got an issue, I don’t mind – no problem”.
‘For me it’s not worth a row – you agree, you compromise, you discuss but he was aggressive.
‘Instead of just saying, “Look, I find it difficult Mrs Potter could you just move your car?” like all the other neighbours do – all this happens.
‘Then on one occasion I was trying to get out and he just stood behind the car. He was smoking. He pushed me, blew smoke at me and spat at me.
‘As I fled into the house I fell over and tripped and banged my head.
‘I called out for help hoping that the neighbours were around but there was nobody there.
‘I had to dial 999 to call an ambulance and the police came.
‘He was arrested for assault but when it got to court he produced a witness who apparently said it was all my fault so he got off. I never knew who the witness was.
‘I thought that would be the end of it. I didn’t want the hassle. The police were called out, I’d made my point and I hoped that he would leave me alone.
‘I have always believed that there’s no point having arguments. If you can sort it all out then that’s what you do.
‘The police said I was perfectly entitled to park on my side of the driveway but if I parked outside the front door they cannot argue with that and from that point on that’s what I did.’
Mrs Potter said she thought that was the end of the matter, but claims her neighbours raised the stakes by filing a civil case against her accusing her of harassment and blocking access to their driveway.
To make matters worse she insists she was not made aware of the proceedings and claims a judgment was made against her without her knowledge.
It is unclear exactly what Mrs Potter knew about the proceedings.
She did not inform her friends or family about the case, and relatives now believe Mrs Potter may have not appreciated the gravity of the situation and had ‘buried her head in the sand like an ostrich’ – hoping it would all go away.
Official documents show that a hearing took place at Bromley County Court in August 2020.
Mrs Potter was ordered to pay Mrs McGowan £30,452.95 damages, plus £27,000 costs. – but the money was never paid. The amount due to Mrs McGowan continues to rise as interest accrues and more costs are incurred.
Giving her version of events, Mrs Potter said: ‘There was a case brought against me which I didn’t know anything about where I was accused of harassment and blocking their access.
‘This was during lockdown. There was a case in August when I was away.
‘There should never have been a case. I didn’t know there was a hearing taking place and I still don’t know if they actually went to court and presented the documents.
While Mrs Potter’s original legal fees debt was £70,000, that has now doubled leaving her £150,000 out of pocket. She has paid around £20,000 in storage fees while she estimates that the value of her property has fallen by £100,000 because it has fallen into disrepair
‘I received paperwork that didn’t look like official documents. I phoned the court to try and check but they knew nothing about it. I thought it was a scam.
‘I did get a letter saying stop parking in the drive and stop harassing – well, I wasn’t.
‘After that I parked at the front of my house, kept right out of the way and just ignored them.
‘I didn’t want to let them intimidate me but when people were walking past I would ask them to stand there and protect me while I backed in. That was my life.’
Mrs Potter maintains that she was convinced there had been no genuine case against her – even when she returned home late one evening in June 2022 and found the locks had been changed.
An eviction notice had been pinned to the front door saying bailiffs had taken possession of the property but she said it ‘didn’t appear real’ as it had been crudely written by hand on a torn out page from a notebook.
She said: ‘I thought they can’t evict you from your own home – it’s a scam. That’s how it appeared with this scrappy little piece of paper.
‘It was late at night and I couldn’t get in the house.
‘I was freezing cold. I collapsed – I couldn’t stop shaking.
‘I thought it was a break-in and called the police. They helped me get into the house.
‘The police came in with me and took me upstairs. The shower curtain had been pulled down. They had thrown things all over the floor.
‘All my drawers were pulled out and my knickers were all thrown everywhere – it was horrible.’
Mrs Potter was allowed to remain in the house until the following April when a warrant of possession was issued at another court hearing and Mrs Potter was evicted.
Her brother Tony Goodall stepped in with £10,000 to fund a lawyer so Mrs Potter would have legal representation for the first time, but as the judgment debt remained unpaid the court ordered for the sale and possession of the property.
Eight months later, in December 2023, the neighbour organised for Mrs Potter’s furniture and possessions to be removed and put into storage at Mrs Potter’s expense.
While Mrs Potter’s original debt was £70,000, that has now more than doubled leaving her £150,000 out of pocket by the legal actions.
She has paid around £20,000 in storage fees while the value of her property has dramatically plunged.
After losing her bid to win back the house last week, Judge David Halpern KC described the case as ‘yet another cautionary tale about the financial consequences of neighbour disputes for those without deep pockets’.
A major bone of contention for Mrs Potter is that her property remains unsold and she claims her neighbour has breached her own court order, by making no attempt to sell it.
Mrs Potter told how she had decided to sell up in 2020 and had put the house on the market.
She said she was poised to buy a bungalow but the sale fell through because of the legal wrangle.
Mrs Potter said: ‘I had hoped to resolve the situation by selling the property and paying the debt but I have not been allowed to do that.
‘I had a buyer for mine. It was all going through.
‘I just wanted to sell it and get rid of it but they evicted me two days before the buyer was coming back and they wouldn’t let him in.
‘They told my agent to take the board down and stop selling it.
‘That would have worked out OK and I would have been able to pay the debt.
‘They’re in control of everything and whatever I try to do to solve it, she says no.
‘They have never had it on the market. They have taken control of the house but they have never attempted to sell it.
‘It shouldn’t have been left up to her to decide whether she wants to sell it or not. Now we’re in a situation where people are being asked to buy a house because the neighbour has had the owner chucked out.
‘What new buyer is going to buy that house knowing they are going to have to live next door to a neighbour like that? I certainly wouldn’t.
‘There should have been an independent receiver appointed to sell the house. If that had happened we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in now.
‘If I was that bad a neighbour you would have thought they would be glad to get rid of me. Now, three years on, we’ve got nowhere.
‘Since then the house has deteriorated. That summer, there was a leak coming from the tank at the top which was going onto the kitchen roof which fell in.
‘The house has literally been rotting for three years to the point where now they reckon it’s worth £450,000 if we’re lucky to sell it but it was valued at £540,000 three months after I left – so it’s dropped more than £100,000 since then.’
Speaking of the impact the ordeal has had on her life, Mrs Potter said: ‘I’ve lived in terror. In some ways it’s a relief to be out of there.
‘It was only when I got away that I realised how frightened I was permanently.
‘Without church help I would have had nowhere to live when I was evicted. I was put up in different places for the first six months until I moved to where I am now in July 2003.
‘I was paying £400-a-month rent but by April the following year I could no longer afford it and I have been allowed to live here rent free.
‘If it wasn’t for the people from the church I would be on the street.’
Younger brother Mr Goodall, 74, said: ‘I really do believe there has been an injustice here.
‘If this was happening to other people I would be thinking how crazy it is that you can lose your house over an incident where you are blocking a driveway.
‘Fundamentally there is something wrong here somewhere. I can’t imagine why a neighbour would want to take a fellow neighbour to court over this issue.
Mrs Potter – a devout Roman Catholic who has dedicated her life to the church’ – told the Mail: ‘I never wanted a war with my neighbour – but all the way along the line they have been vicious and vindictive. It’s beyond my comprehension how somebody could be so vicious.’
‘This has gone through the whole legal system. The legal system seems to be accepting it.
‘The problem now is, who owns the house? The house hasn’t been looked after, it’s been through a bad winter. It’s suffering damage and who is going to pay for the damage? The whole thing is a square peg in a round hole.’
Mrs McGowan and her son Martin declined to comment.
