Awellnessretreat boss is being sued by her GP neighbour after allegedly ‘blockading’ the doctor’s surgery car park driveway with her Bentley.
Joy Jarvis, 74, and Dr Reshma Rasheed, 62, are locked in a bitter neighbours’ row over an alleyway bordering Chapel Street Surgery inEssex.
Dr Rasheed’s patients have used the alleyway, on the right of the building, to access a car park at the back of the building since she purchased it in 2006.
Twelve years later, she extended the car park. However, after Joy and and her husband Brian, 71, bought the land next door for development in 2021, the neighbours started ‘headbutting each other for years.’
The feud came to a head on August 24, 2021, when Joy allegedly parked her Bentley on the alleyway to prevent Dr Rasheed and patients from using the surgery car park.
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Dr Rasheed is now suing the couple to ensure she has the legal right over the entire driveway.
During a hearing at CentralLondonCounty Court, Dr Rasheed’s barrister, Rupert Myers, told the judge that she has a right of way over the driveway to get to the back of the surgery due to a 1973 conveyance as patients have been using it as a car park since 1975 – more than 40 years before Joy and Brian bought the land.
‘Almost immediately upon acquiring the property, the defendants took issue with the claimant’s use of the driveway to reach her car park,’ he told the court.
‘Shortly after their purchase, the defendants and in particular the second defendant Mrs Jarvis asserted that the claimant had no right to use the full length of the driveway to access the car park.
‘On 24 August 2021, the second defendant parked her Bentley on the driveway in such a manner as to block the claimant and her patients from driving into or out of the surgery’s car park.
‘This deliberate obstruction of the right of way caused significant disruption to the surgery’s operations.’
He said the alleged blocking was ‘deliberate’ and a ‘calculated’ move to prevent patients from parking there.
He added that the car was later removed after Dr Rasheed threatened to sue them, but added that they told her they want to fence off the four metres of land they say they are entitled to.
‘If carried out, such fencing would physically bar the claimant and her invitees from reaching the car park by car, effectively landlocking a crucial part of the surgery’s premises,’ he said.
Kevin Leigh, representing Joy and Brian, said expert evidence showed that the GP’s rights extend to only around 26m worth of the driveway, which had been enough for drivers to get to the car park before it was extended in 2018.
Prior to the extensionwork, visitors had been able to drive down the lane and turn left into the car park without going past that 26m mark and all the way to the end of the lane, he said.
‘The expertopinionis consistent with the original length of the surgery,’ he told the court.
‘This need has only arisen because of the large extension of the surgery.
‘Dr Rasheed is not allowed to treat the right of way as if she owns it and install things in it.’
The court heard the couple are veteran property builders, with Mrs Jarvis telling the judge she has been involved in property development for 40 years.
They are also owners of the Glasshouse Retreat, a wellness spa where visitors are invited to ‘absorb yourself with holistic wellness…Feel your body and mind reset, de-stress and relax…Take the time to focus on what matters while enjoying the retreat’s state-of-the-art-facilities, zen treatment rooms and nutritious food.’
After a three-day trial at Central London County Court, Judge Alan Johns said he would give his decision at a later date.
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