Helene Ball had been out shopping with a friend when she returned to find her local council had erected a green metal fence outside her home, completely blocking the rear access to her garden.
‘The cement was already dry. I was angry at first then I just laughed,’ she said.
‘You have to laugh about it otherwise you’ll cry.’
Mrs Ball is speaking this week from her immaculate semi overlooking the picturesque town of Matlock in the Derbyshire Dales after she won a three-year, £50,000 David and Goliath fight with Derbyshire County Council over the 3ft 3in gateway.
She is making a Victoria Sponge
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