{"id":5215,"date":"2026-10-07T11:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T11:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/07\/granddads-home-bulldozed-during-shopping-trip\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T11:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T11:11:11","slug":"granddads-home-bulldozed-during-shopping-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/07\/granddads-home-bulldozed-during-shopping-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Granddad&#039;s home bulldozed during shopping trip"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>2026-10-07 11:11:08<\/b><br \/>\n<BR>A grandfather returned from a routine shopping trip to discover his home had been bulldozed, along with his possessions and the ashes of his late son.<BR><br \/>\nBob Thwaites, 79, had lived in a caravan beside Broadness Creek on the Swanscombe Peninsula in north Kent for 35 years, having moved there in 1991 after his marriage broke down, and he developed an off-grid lifestyle on the land.<BR><br \/>\nBut on May 6 this year, he returned from shopping to find the caravan had been demolished by Land Logical, which had acquired Swanscombe Development LLP, the company that owned the site.<BR><br \/>\nMr Thwaites is now seeking an interim injunction allowing him to return with a replacement caravan while a wider legal dispute over his rights to the land continues.<BR><br \/>\nHis solicitor, Ed John of Keystone Law, told the court the case was about more than a property dispute.<BR><br \/>\n\u201cThis case is not just about one man and his home; this case is about the rule of law and human dignity,\u201d he said.<BR><br \/>\nMr John argued that if developers believed Mr Thwaites had no right to remain, they should have obtained a possession order rather than removing him themselves.<BR><br \/>\nHe added: \u201cI was left open-mouthed when I took the call on the 6th of May. I couldn\u2019t believe anyone could do such a thing.\u201d<BR><br \/>\nMr Thwaites&#8217; legal team argues he may have acquired rights through adverse possession after living on the land for more than 12 years.<BR><br \/>\nDuring the hearing, David Forsdick, representing Mr Thwaites, described the demolition as \u201cunlawful\u201d and \u201ca trespass against my client\u201d.<BR><br \/>\nHe presented aerial images dating from 1999 to 2025 showing the caravan in the same location, along with photographs documenting Mr Thwaites&#8217; life there.<BR><br \/>\nThe court heard he had also been given a key to access the site, which his barrister described as a \u201crecognition of his residence\u201d.<BR><br \/>\nHowever, lawyers for Swanscombe Development argued there was no planning permission or council tax record for the occupation and questioned how frequently Mr Thwaites lived there.<BR><br \/>\nThey urged the judge to reject the injunction, citing security and insurance concerns.<BR><br \/>\nJudge Catherine Brown adjourned the application until October 15, when she is expected to give her decision.<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Visit Bang Bizarre (main website) <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/xtbac.js\" data-video=\"\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2026-10-07 11:11:08 A grandfather returned from a routine shopping trip to discover his home had been bulldozed, along with his possessions and the ashes of his late son. Bob Thwaites,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bizarre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5217,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5215\/revisions\/5217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}