Anger after Harrogate builder James Moss declared bankrupt

Three women owed thousands of pounds by Harrogate cowboy builder James Moss have said they feel let down by the system after he was declared bankrupt.

Mr Moss has lost a string of civil court cases in recent years for poor quality or unfinished building work. He owed over £30,000 to five different homeowners who won cases against him.

Going bankrupt means that Mr Moss, who lives in Summerbridge, won’t be liable for his debts and it is unlikely his claimants will ever see a penny they are owed or recover legal bills.

‘Completely flabbergasted’

Karen Macgillivray-Fallis spent her life savings on a £30,000 garage conversion in Burton Leonard for her elderly mother-in-law, but Mr Moss left it in such a state it had to be demolished.

Her mother-in-law passed away and Ms Macgillivray-Fallis blames Mr Moss for denying them of their final days living together as a family.

She said:

“I am completely flabbergasted how easy it is for someone who owes money to declare themselves bankrupt. 

“I am not a big business, I am a normal person who has lost life savings in an attempt to provide a home for my elderly mother-in-law who never had the opportunity to come and live with us due to the actions of Mr Moss. She died alone in April 2019.

“It is very frustrating that the court look at all the evidence, make a decision and then the decision seems to be unenforceable. I have worked for charities all my working life so I really support systems that protect people in genuine need but I have not seen any evidence that this is the case with Mr Moss.

“It is really important to me that justice prevails and we will be taking further steps to ensure that this happens.”

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Gill Lawrence works for a homeless charity and takes vulnerable young people into at her home near Wetherby Road whilst they get back on their feet

Mr Moss left a £13,000 kitchen conversion half-finished whilst pocketing almost the total agreed quote.

Ms Lawrence said she feels “let down” by the legal system, which has cost her even more money trying to recover the money she was owed.

“I have paid to take him to court, who agreed with me. They instructed him to pay me £8,700 which he refused to do. The courts do nothing else to ensure you get the money they have instructed him to pay.

“At that point I think it should be up to them to enforce payment, but no, you have to pay them even more money for them to instruct payment, and then you have to pay even more money to instruct bailiffs to collect from him.

“He has still refused to pay. So now he has declared himself bankrupt, I feel like I have been let down three times, by him, the courts and the bailiffs who I paid a fortune to and I’ve ended up with nothing. How can that be right?.”

‘More regulation is needed’

Vicky Cooke is a French teacher from Ilkley who needed a new roof on an extension at her home. Ms Cooke paid Moss £3,400 for the job, and he even offered a 25-year guarantee that the work would be built to last.

But after apparently completing the job it took just two months for the roof to start leaking.

Ms Cooke said:

“I’m not really surprised that Mr Moss is declaring himself bankrupt. The debt will be written off. In the meantime, we’ve worked hard and honestly to earnt the money to pay a reputable roofer to repair what we’d already paid to Mr Moss to do.

“The whole building and roofing trade needs regulating to protect consumers from cowboys like James Moss.”

‘The system is unfair’

Andrew Gray, founder of Harrogate law firm Truth Legal, said the small claims court process was stacked against the claimant and that “crafty defendants” know how to play the system.

He said:

“If a claimant engages a solicitor to pursue a claim, then, even if the claim succeeds, the claimant is unlikely to recover their legal costs. In claims for smaller sums, perversely, the legal fees can dwarf the amount of damages. With or without lawyers, the process is slow and always stressful.

“When defendants become insolvent, the litigation process usually becomes pointless, further annoying a genuine claimant, who is left significantly out of pocket and further aggrieved.

“Frankly, the system is unfair and is deserving of a significant upheaval.

“Crafty defendants know how to play the system, to the massive disadvantage of the rule-following majority.”

The Stray Ferret asked Mr Moss to respond to this article but we did not receive a response by time of publication.

Harrogate cowboy builder James Moss declared bankrupt

Harrogate cowboy builder James Moss has been declared bankrupt, following a string of civil court cases in the past few years for poor quality or unfinished building work.

Mr Moss left a trail of shoddy workmanship across the Harrogate district and owed over £30,000 to five different homeowners who won cases against him.

A document on the public records website The Gazette says Mr Moss filed for bankruptcy last week and his application was accepted the next day. It lists him as not working and living in Summerbridge.

Mr Moss has multiple claims outstanding from people who hired him for building work. 

Last year, the Stray Ferret heard how two women won cases against him in the civil court.

They included a woman in Harrogate who said he left a £13,000 kitchen half-finished whilst pocketing almost the total agreed quote.

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Three different claimants have also won cases in the county court against Mr Moss this year alone.

In January, he was told to pay £11,495 to a woman who was unhappy about the quality of his work.

In February, he was ordered to repay money after a £30,000 garage conversion was so poor it had to be partly demolished.

In April, he was ordered by a judge to repay a man from Knaresborough £1,275 after he took a deposit but failed to show up on a job.

None of them have received any money from Mr Moss.

The Stray Ferret asked Mr Moss for a comment but he declined.

Family moves to Rudding Park to escape minus one degree home

A Beckwithshaw family has booked into Rudding Park hotel to escape its freezing home after two days without power.

Sylvia Skipper’s home was among thousands in the district to lose electricity when Storm Arwen struck late on Friday.

Power has returned to most but about 800 properties in the Harrogate district are still affected, according to a live map by Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity distribution network across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.

Ms Skipper, who lives on Shaw Lane, said her family had been without power since 9.20pm on Friday. There has been no hot water or heating, despite the freezing conditions, and they have been unable to cook. She said:

“Our house yesterday afternoon was minus one degrees.

“We couldn’t take any more and are now staying at Rudding Park. We have no idea whether power will be restored today.

“This is inhumane. We have lost faith as we have been forgotten about.”

Northern Powergrid’s live map shows 660 homes are without power in the Summerbridge and Bishop Thornton area, along with 60 in Spofforth, 30 in North Stainley, 20 in Pannal, 20 in High Birstwith, 20 in Kirkby Malzeard, fewer than 10 in Knaresborough, fewer than 10 in Greenhow Hill.

Ms Skipper said:

“The communication from Northern Powergrid has been dreadful.

“Until this afternoon we didn’t even have a phone signal on top of this so we had to venture in the car so that we could communicate with Northern Powergrid.

“I have seen their Twitter updates about providing hot drinks and support to numerous areas in the North East yet there has been absolutely nothing for us or our neighbours.”

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Steve Crisp, whose home between Beckwithshaw and Leathley is also without power, said:

“I keep trying to access Northern Powergrid but the website is unreliable and this morning when I rang and confirmed I would like to wait to speak to someone the system just cut me off.

“Patience and Dunkirk spirit being stretched!”

He and his wife were luckier than some because they had a log burner, which provided heat and a means to cook beans on toast.

‘One of worst storms for 20 years’

Northern Powergrid’s latest update at 11pm last night said it had restored power to around 208,000 of the 240,000 customers. About 100 engineers from other power companies had been drafted in to help. It added:

“The scale of damage in some locations is so extensive that in some cases, large sections of overhead lines will need to be rebuilt in order to restore supplies.

“Where it can, Northern Powergrid is deploying temporary fixes that get customers back on supply whilst its teams coordinate the necessary permanent repairs to get the region’s power network back to full strength.

Rod Gardner, Northern Powergrid’s major incident manager, added:

“The impact from Storm Arwen has been one of the worst we’ve experienced in the last 20 years.”

Fears Nidderdale could become ‘barren’ unless more affordable homes are built

A lack of affordable homes in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is forcing young and low-paid families to move away, a meeting has heard.

Members of Harrogate Borough Council’s overview and scrutiny commission last night called for greater action to bring forward more affordable homes in the area, which has seen average property prices climb to around £320,000, according to Zoopla.

The AONB covers around two-thirds of the Harrogate district but only has 9% of its population and councillor Tom Watson, who represents the Nidd Valley ward, expressed fears that it could become “barren”.

He said:

“If we don’t have small developments in the area, village schools are going to close, pubs are already on the way out and village shops are also going to go.

“The AONB is there to protect the countryside, but we have got to make sure the area is a living one and not barren.”

227 households on waiting list

Created in 1994, the AONB was introduced to conserve the countryside with levels of protection from developments.

A total of 253 homes were recently proposed at sites in Darley, Dacre, Summerbridge and Pateley Bridge under the council’s Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35. But government planning inspector ruled that they would have had too great an impact.

Since then, a growing number of residents have struggled to get a footing on the property ladder with 227 households currently on the council’s waiting list for social housing in Upper Nidderdale.

And with an average of just 20 vacancies becoming available each year, the waiting list would take around 10 years to clear if no more households came forward.

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Councillor Pat Marsh, leader of the council’s Liberal Democrats, described the situation as “really sad” and said efforts to build affordable homes on small plots of council-owned land were only a “tiny drop in the ocean”.

Council planners said they were also demanding affordable homes be built at developments of more than 10 properties to try tackle the problem.

Smaller profits

However, Jenny Kerfoot, executive officer for housing growth at the council, said landowners were often reluctant to bring forward plans for affordable housing because of the smaller profits involved.

She added the council was hopeful these landowners have “given up hope that their land is worth a lot of money” now that the Local Plan has been adopted and any large developments have been ruled out.

She said:

“There won’t be any of these big sites in the AONB or predominantly for market housing so it’s our intention now to approach those landowners.”

Councillor Victoria Oldham, a Conservative who represents the Washburn ward, said another possible solution would be the conversion of disused farm buildings, but she added any new developments were often met with opposition from locals.

She said:

“We all know little pockets of land in the area where a pair of semis could easily go, but half of the problem would be the negativity from parish councils or people in the immediate vicinity.

“I’m pretty much against large developments in the AONB because we haven’t got the transport facilities. A lot of places don’t even have shops or post offices – and you can forget banking.

“But one or two houses in areas would be of benefit as something needs to be done.”

 

Children learn about food at Summerbridge farm

Schoolchildren enjoyed a different kind of lesson today when they visited a Summerbridge farm to learn how food goes from the field to the dinner plate.

The children visited Birchfield Ice Cream Farm as part of a new initiative from Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

The society launched the Farm to Fork campaign to teach the younger generations about farming, food and the countryside.

The children, from Ashfield Primary School in Otley, enjoyed a trailer ride around the farm as the Whitley family, who run the farm, explained how they look after animals.

The children also got to see farm’s cows, pigs and hens up close as well as visit the farm’s dairy parlour to see how ice cream is made.

Sarah Whitley, of Birchfield Ice Cream Farm, said:

“We’ve loved hosting Ashfield Primary School with the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and hope the children have come away with a real insight into how farmers produce food and look after their animals and crops.”

school kids visit summerbridge farm

The children meet the animals.

Ben Nowell, class teacher at Ashfield Primary School, said:

“As a teacher, we try to teach the children to make the best choice they believe in with the information that they have.

“We believe it is important for children to understand where their food comes from and how it is made so they can make informed, healthy decisions for themselves.”

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Today’s visit is one of several organised throughout the year. The campaign was launched by the society during last year’s first lockdown.

Nigel Pulling, chief executive of the society, said:

“It is so important to educate new generations about where their food comes from and our Farm to Fork visits are great opportunities to do exactly that.

“Yorkshire has such a wonderful farming story to share and the earlier we can get this message across to children the better.”

Summerbridge woman gets trapped in loft

A woman in Summerbridge needed rescuing from her loft when the hatch closed and she was unable to get out.

A postman was alerted to the danger when he heard the woman shouting for help shortly after 11am yesterday.

Firefighters from the nearby Summerbridge station rushed to the house and managed to get in through a window using a triple extension ladder.

They were then able to rescue the woman, who has not been named, from the loft.

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Charity worker jailed for attempted robbery at Summerbridge Stores

A charity worker who attempted to rob a Summerbridge convenience store armed with a knife and a hammer has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Munashe Chikomba, 23, was said to be “extremely polite” during the bungled robbery and didn’t appear to know what he was doing, York Crown Court heard.

Chikomba walked into Summerbridge Stores near Harrogate with his hood up, a Snood masking his face and carrying a 12-inch, rubber-handled hammer, a five-inch knife and a plastic bag, said prosecutor Jeremy Barton.

Store owner James Thornton was behind the till as Chikomba, who had driven from Leeds, walked up to the counter. There was a female customer in the shop when the incident occurred in the Dales village store at about 3.30pm on March 27.

Mr Barton said:

“As (Chikomba) got closer, (Mr Thornton) could see the defendant had a white plastic bag in his hand and a hammer

“The defendant was holding the hammer out in front of him…and said, ‘Open up (the till)!’”

Chikomba, who “appeared calm”, was holding a knife in his other hand and “kind of fumbled it a bit”.

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The female customer feared he was about to lunge at Mr Thornton with the five-inch blade.

Mr Barton said:

“He again asked (Mr Thornton) to open (the till).”

The shopkeeper said he couldn’t open it and grabbed his phone to call police.

Chikomba, the son of an NHS worker, told Mr Thornton “not to do that”, but then lost his nerve and fled the scene.

summerbridge stores

Summerbridge stores

He drove off in a Vauxhall Corsa, which was later stopped by police on York Road. Officers found the hammer and the knife, as well as another blade inside the boot and a grey balaclava or Snood. 

Chikomba pointed at the balaclava and said, “That’s what I used”, then stopped himself when he realised he was incriminating himself. He was arrested and taken in for questioning, but remained silent. 

Shop owner ‘really shaken’

Mr Thornton, whose family had run the business in Summerbridge for over 20 years, said he was “really shaken” by the incident.

He said he had never experienced anything like it in the 16 years since taking over the running of the shop from his parents and didn’t feel safe at work anymore. He was now “scared for my colleagues’ safety”.

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He said although Chikomba “didn’t seem very confident in what he was doing”, he felt like he was in “direct danger”.

Chikomba, of Cardigan Road, Headingley, admitted attempted robbery, two counts of possessing an offensive weapon in a public place and one count of carrying a blade.

‘Wholly out of character’

Khadmin Al’Hassan, for Chikomba, said it was “very bizarre” for his “softly-spoken” client to commit such a terrifying act.

Mr Al’Hassan said:

“This was wholly out of character for this young man.

“He has been suffering from mental health issues for a significant period of time.”

He added, however, that Chikomba was over £1,000 in debt at the time, and it appeared this prompted him to act in a “wholly irrational” way, “although he didn’t even know whether (trying to steal from the shop) was going to resolve his issues”. 

He said Chikomba was in a “low, depressive” mood on the day in question and his problems stemmed from a traumatic childhood in his native Zimbabwe, where he was kidnapped for three weeks after his parents had fled the country.

He eventually joined his family in the UK and “since then he’s had various complications as a result of his distress (and) traumatic experience”.

Mr Al’Hassan said:

“He’s managed to live a fairly law-abiding life and he’s involved in charity work.

“He has helped other young people in his community.”

Chikomba, who has no previous convictions, had been “highly thought of” by his tutors who had provided character references for him.

He had a “very loving family”, a partner and had recently become a father for the first time. He was “extremely remorseful” for his actions.

Mr Al’Hassan said that Chikomba was in fact “extremely polite during this entire incident and then he left without further altercation”.

Jail sentence necessary

Judge Simon Hickey said that, notwithstanding Chikomba’s otherwise “impeccable character”, it had to be jail for a “knife and hammer-point attempted robbery on that Saturday afternoon…in a family-run store in the small North Yorkshire village of Summerbridge”.

He said Chikomba terrified Mr Thornton who “didn’t know what you were going to do”.

Mr Hickey added:

“You have done a great deal (of good) in the community.

“This is completely out of character.”

He said it was clear that Chikomba’s remorse was “genuine” and there was “little planning” before the raid, which was “miles away from your address in Headingley”.

The judge said Chikomba was a “very responsible and loving father”, but it appeared that his “moderate depressive disorder” and debts had led to him becoming “overwhelmed” on the day in question “and you decided to go and do something about it and that was to rob the store and clear your debts”. 

Chikomba will serve half of the 30-month jail sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence. 

Man admits holding up Summerbridge Stores with knife and hammer

A man carrying a knife and hammer is facing jail for holding up a convenience store in Summerbridge.

Munashe Chikomba, 22, appeared at York Crown Court via video link today and admitted to attempted robbery, possessing an offensive weapon and carrying a knife.

The raid occurred at Summerbridge Stores, a village shop on Main Street, on March 27.

Khadmin Al’Hassan, for Chikomba, said it was “very bizarre” that his “softly-spoken” client should commit such an act and asked for the case to be adjourned for a pre-sentence report.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said:

“He’s never been in trouble before – it’s a bizarre thing to do.”

The judge agreed to adjourn sentence for a probation report but warned Chikomba “not to read (anything) into this adjournment” because “this is a serious matter”.

Chikomba, of Cardigan Road, Headingley, Leeds, was remanded in custody until sentence on June 2 after pleading guilty to attempting to rob a male shop worker, two counts of carrying an offensive weapon and one count of having a bladed article in a public place.

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Man accused of attempted robbery at Summerbridge Stores

A man has appeared before magistrates charged with attempted robbery at Summerbridge Stores.

Munashe Chikomba, 22, is accused of attempting to carry out the robbery at the village shop near Pateley Bridge on Saturday.

Chikomba, of Cardigan Road, Headingley, is also accused of possessing offensive weapons, namely a knife and a hammer, without reasonable excuse in a public place.

He appeared at York Magistrates’ Court in Monday where he was sent for trial at York Crown Court on April 26. He was denied bail.

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Police appeal for help finding fraudsters who conned woman, 80

Fraudsters pretending to be from a disability service stole three bank cards from a woman in her 80s in Summerbridge.

Police in Harrogate today issued a CCTV appeal to find the man and woman responsible.

The suspects took three bank cards and subsequently made fraudulent transactions in Ripon and Darlington.

The incident occurred on Hartwith Bank at around 4.45pm on October 14.

A North Yorkshire Police statement said:

“We are appealing for information which will help to identify the suspects, including anyone who recognises the person in the CCTV image, which is from TK Maxx in Darlington around an hour after the incident.

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Anyone with information can contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2, and ask for Katie Bell.

You can also email katarina.bell@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk.

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12200181553.