Living in lock-up garage

It's been claimed lock-up garages available to rent alongside the railway track at the back of Dorset Road have people living inside.

A worried resident of Magdalen Road claimed that three or four in the row behind the car wash and sales centre were occupied.

He told the Observer: "There are several people living in the garages. I actually went down there with a friend and we saw for ourselves. One of the garages we looked in had a plasma tv screen, furniture and goodness knows what else in there.

"Apparently the Council has been informed but there is nothing they can do. I was told this was the third Christmas they have been there - I had no idea."

He understood the occupants to be mainly Eastern European and claimed there was even a two-berth caravan with tyres let down to get it inside, with four men living inside.

His main reason for raising the issue was over health implications because there are no toilet facilities inside the lock-ups which he felt had led to an increase in rats in the gardens backing onto the railway line. He added that the rats in a nearby property were running around "as big as cats".

A local businessman confirmed the fact of the lockups being occupied and said: "There are people living up there. But they need to live up there. The strange thing as far as I know is one of them has got council accommodation but chooses to live up there instead.

"It is a problem from the health side - obviously they have got no toilets and one of them had a dog at one time...you can imagine what happens. Whatever they need to do in the night just gets chucked out on the railway line or on the car park.

"At the moment I think there is only one - but there has been up to four or five."

Another neighbour confirmed people were staying there and said: "No-one should have to live in a lock-up."

A spokesman for Rother District Council said: "An enforcement notice concerning the garage in Dorset Road was issued by the council on December 9. The notice has a compliance period of two months."

Owner Richard Over was approached this week for his comment and said he was "not aware" of people living in the garages and did not wish to comment on the enforcement order.