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A driver who used a digger to flip over a car left parked on his land is a farmer’s son who was fed up with being taunted by ‘anti-social thugs’, MailOnline can reveal.
Dramatic footage shows a man believed to be Robert Hooper using a telehandler to overturn the silver Vauxhall hatchback before carting the vehicle away and bundling it out onto the road.
A shirtless man is seen on footage kicking the tractor as the car is hauled away from a gate it was blocking at the farm in Barnard Castle, County Durham, which is run by Robert’s father, Stephen.
The video was posted on Snapchat by a man called Elliott Johnson, who included a jokey caption calling the hatchback his ‘courtesy car’.
But it was not clear whether he was the shirtless man seen in the film and there is no suggestion he was involved in anti-social behaviour.
Incredibly, Mr Hooper can be seen checking to see if any other traffic was coming before pushing it down the country lane. He appeared to knock the car driver to the ground as he swung back round to return to his farm, leaving the road littered with glass and debris.
A source told MailOnline: ‘The lads had parked their car onto his drive. He asked them to move but they didn’t seem to want to obey.
‘He had no choice but to take matters into his own hands and remove the ruffians from his property himself.’
Friend Mark Nicholson said the farmer had been ‘driven mad by these lot’ with anti-social behaviour leaving him at ‘the end of his tether’
Durham Constabulary confirmed they had been called out to the incident just after 5pm on Saturday.
Police were called to the scene in the aftermath of the run-in between farmer and driver
A shirtless man – believed to be the owner – tried to remonstrate with the digger driver
The car driver seemed to kick the farm machinery as the penny dropped as to the situation
The motorist was filming what was happened on his phone as the car was suddenly tipped up
A police spokesman told MailOnline: ‘We were alerted to reports of an incident at a farm in the Teesdale area shortly after 5.45pm on June 5.
‘Officers attended the scene and an investigation into the circumstances is ongoing.’
It is understood that no arrests have been made over the shocking fracas.
There were further claims yesterday the farmer may have been the victim of repeated anti-social behaviour.
It was said the youths had subjected him to fires on his land as well as property damaged.
Dairy farmer Mark Nicholson said: ‘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.’
Charlie Finnerty, of Rochdale, Gtr Mancs also posted the video yesterday on Sunday on Facebook and it has already racked up over one million views.
BBC Radio 2 host Jeremy Vine 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?’
He said: ‘Wow, don’t park in front of farmer’s gates.’
However, the farmer’s actions divided opinions.
The tiny silver hatchback was scooped up by the telehandler and flipped over in the video
The car was tumbled down the street with the farm machinery as the incident unfolded
The driver seemed to be in utter disbelief as the farm machine came to a stop after the lift
The lifter driver then calmly went back to the land, leaving the car in the middle of the road
Mary Harris joked: ‘I love the way the farmer looks right to check no oncoming vehicles before pulling out.’
Mike Hillen said: ‘There was an easier solution to this, farmer should have chained and padlocked his gate closed.
‘Stopping the car from leaving then waited for car owner to knock on his door, he could of then charged him whatever amount to open the gate.
‘No court, no lawyer bills.’
Thomas Williams added: ‘As satisfying as it is to see someone who is clearly pondlife get his just desserts.
‘This is definitely criminal damage and perhaps even GBH when he hits him with the vehicle.’
But one cyclist – called Hannah – said: ‘I fully condone this.
‘Well done farmer for getting rid of this car in front of his gate.’
