A car blocks a farmer's driveway: he moves it with his tractor (+ VIDEO)

by Mark Bennett

March 12, 2022

A car blocks a farmer's driveway: he moves it with his tractor (+ VIDEO)
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When someone invades our personal space, we naturally feel threatened. Imagine a farmer who sees two strangers invade his private property: 57-year-old Robert Hooper admitted he was afraid when two young men half his age entered his farm and, with their car, blocked his driveway, denying him access to his property. It was not the first time that the farmer had to face an intrusion of this nature, either. And since the two young men refused at his polite request for them to move the car, the farmer felt he had to remedy the situation by resorting to violence. Using his tractor, he overturned the obstructing car, pushing it off his driveway.

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Robert Hooper had no time to waste that day: the day had just begun and it was going to be a very long and tiring one. When the farmer saw that a car was blocking his access on his own property, he asked the owners, two young, unknown men, to move it. The two refused and Robert, worried about who these strangers were and what they were up to, preferred to act on his own, removing the vehicle in his own unique way. "If you don't move it, I'll do it myself," Robert told the young driver. After the latter's negative response, Robert proceeded to remove the car with his tractor. In the footage that was posted to a Facebook group, a shirtless man is seen kicking the Robert's tractor as he overturns the intruders' car. It is clear that the owner of the car is very visibly angry.

Why did Robert act like this? Because he claimed he felt threatened: "I thought: 'There are two of them, they are half my age, I didn't know what they had in terms of weapons or what they were capable of doing. I assumed that if the car was off the property, then they would be gone too. I felt threatened. "

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**Farmer removes abandoned car using a telehandler. **🧑‍🌾** **🚜🚗😲😏 A driver watched on as his car was barrel-rolled into the road by an angry farmer using a telehandler, after he reportedly abandoned it in a driveway after "crashing it". The grey Vauxhall Corsa was rammed from behind, with the spikes of the telehandler tossing it into the air before it landed on its side. A shirtless man, believed to be the driver of the car, kicked the cab and wheels of the telehandler, while simultaneously filming the chaos on his mobile phone. The incident, which took place over the weekend, has now been watched on social media over a million times. It occurred a short distance from Low Force Waterfall, on the River Tees, which is 20 miles outside of Barnard Castle, County Durham. The waterfall is a popular site with young people on hot days, but local residents have complained they have been "driven mad" by people visiting the area and reportedly causing damage, starting fires and speeding. Durham Constabulary said in a statement: "We were alerted to reports of an incident at a farm in the Teesdale area shortly after 5.45pm on Saturday, June 5th. Officers attended the scene and an investigation into the circumstances is ongoing." It is understood no arrests have been made. The video was posted by Elliott Johnson on Snapchat with the caption: "Glad it was just my courtesy car." It was then shared by his friend, Charlie Finnerty, who claimed the driver "crashed it and put it there". The forklift driver can be seen to stop and check for oncoming traffic before proceeding to push the hatchback out onto the B road, which connects Barnard Castle and the waterfall. As the videos shows, the shirtless man was knocked to the ground by the spikes after the farmer swung the telehandler around. In an extended version of the video, the shirtless man and his friends are heard laughing to the police who are at the scene. "This isn’t my first rodeo," the shirtless man says. Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2 host, tweeted the video and said: "Driver has blocked farm gate with his car. Motorist has smartphone. Farmer has forklift. Who's gonna win this one?" Others who claim to know the farmer defended him on social media. Mark Nicholson tweeted: "A lot more to this story, he’s a friend of a colleague, he’s been driven mad by these lot, starting fires, pushing walls over just to name a few things, not saying it’s right but they pushed him to the end of his tether."

Pubblicato da FT Richards su Mercoledì 9 giugno 2021

But why not call the police, then? The farmer pointed out that he has suffered 8 intrusions on his farm and that the police would have taken several hours before they could arrive to sort things out. That's why he preferred to act on his own, even though his actions have now  caused him a few legal problems.

What would you have done in Robert's place?

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