An angry Tameside homeowner has spoken of his ordeal after a businessman's botched attempt to build a new family home next door left part of his property at risk of collapse.
Shaun Simpson, 60, says he has been left in the middle of a "living nightmare" after unsafe work left the site just yards from his home "a death trap waiting to happen." Mustapha Matib, who is not a builder, took it upon himself to act as principal contractor for the project to build himself a new home.
But the site, on Gibraltar Lane in the Haughton Green area of Denton, was plagued by problems. Shaun raised the alarm with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after he witnessed workers being put in danger by digging barefoot and leaning over unprotected holes several feet deep.
READ MORE: Neighbours left stunned at state of family home
Workers had also dug out earth close to the boundary of his property, leaving part of it 'unstable.' Shaun says he has been told his garage is now at risk of falling down.
Matib was prosecuted and handed a suspended prison sentence for breaches of health and safety laws. However, Shaun says he and his wife are still living with the consequences of the 'cowboy' work.
Shaun, who moved into his property in 1997, said the house next door had belonged to a member of a well-known family in the area before they passed away and it was sold. Planning permission was granted in the summer of 2018 for a new two-storey detached house set to include four en-suite bedrooms, a kitchen, guest and family lounges, a double garage and a gym and indoor pool, Tameside Council's planning website shows.
Following this the bungalow, garage and carport which used to sit on the site were demolished. Shaun said there was an 'invasion' of demolition people who came and started to 'rip the house apart'.
"It was like something you might have seen in the sixties or seventies, lads just wandering around, ripping stuff down," he said.
He said he a garage that neighboured his own was torn down along with three conifer trees. Then soon after, whilst he was out but his wife at home, he claims a digger came close to their fence line and started digging away the earth.
"My wife asked the guy what he was doing and he said the measurements he'd been given would have taken him halfway into our garden! Of course by then it's all too late - it had been dug out right up to our line," Shaun says.
"My wife said they were digging that close to us the house was actually rumbling." At that point, Shaun contacted Tameside Council, and then took matters further when he saw men working barefoot on site.
"I just thought 'no'. You've pushed the boat out a little far now pal."
He says he initially thought of contacting the police before making a report to the HSE. Inspectors attended within a matter of hours and issued a prohibition notice ordering no further work to be carried out.
Council officers also attended and Shaun said he was told his garage, which borders the site, was now 'compromised' and he was advised to take his car out of it. "I just thought where else am I gonna put it," he said.
"But now I just keep thinking 'is this going to collapse one day?' We're living on tenterhooks. It could be a total catastrophe with respect to my house. "
When inspectors attended the HSE said they found a 'large, deep and unprotected excavation' which neighbours said they believed was to be the swimming pool. The hole, said to be around seven feet deep, and which the HSE said 'gave rise to a foreseeable fall risk', filled with water in inclement weather making it even more of a hazard, Shaun said.
"At that time there was nothing to stop people getting on the site." he said. "Then they put some crappy Harris fencing up with no lock on it or anything.
"I had to secure it myself a few times. Kids could have got in at any point. And when the water was there it was basically a death trap waiting to happen. Not specifically for his so-called employees but kids are kids and I thought if they see something like that they will get in there."
Following the excavation work, fences along Shaun's property boundary started to fall down, meaning he was unable to allow his dog to run loose in his own garden. "It's made my garden not a safe area at all," he said.
"The land from my garden used to go out on a flat plain into next door's garden. Once they dug away there was a drop of about 14 foot.
"It was absolutely unbelievable. You could have fallen over there and killed yourself. Luckily we don't have grandkids or anything like that because they wouldn't be able to play out either. You're just living in trepidation."
The HSE said they eventually established Matib had failed to prepare a construction phase plan with risk assessments and method statements detailing how the work would be safely carried out.
He also failed to appoint a site manager with suitable skills, knowledge, and experience to plan, manage and monitor the work; and ensure the health, safety, and welfare of those carrying out the work. Ultimately the work "put workers in danger and rendered the neighbouring property unstable", the HSE said.
""He (Matib) is just a cowboy without putting the horses anywhere" Shaun said. "He has refused to engage with us and there has been no communication with me. The guy's arrogance and lack of regard for anyone else is absolutely incredulous. I feel angry.
"He's got land there and land will always make money but the value of my property is going down. If I tried to sell my property now someone would come along and say 'you're having a laugh aren't you?'
"During the time this has been going on I've lost my mum and dad. So we were running around trying to look after them and had all this on top. With the value of my house going down, it's just been a complete a joke."
The site has now been secured but its future is now uncertain following Matib's conviction. Shaun wants Tameside Council to revisit the planning permission.
"It's just a sad state of affairs. The garden of that house used to be absolutely for people to look out on. And at the moment I can't see it's in any state of recovery unless he spends god knows how much more. It's an absolute eyesore. The only thing you can say about it now he's secured it.
"I've no problem with a house being built there, it just needs someone to come along and stop de-valuing the area. This is a lovely area and that's why we bought our house. But what has happened - if you can think of something s***y and put fish hooks in it and a bit more - then that's it."
Other neighbours living near the site, close to Haughton Dale Nature Reserve and the River Tame, have previously spoken about how it has impacted them. One said he could 'not believe what he was seeing' when he saw the barefoot workers and that the site was an accident waiting to happen.
Matib, of Allerton Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty to two charges under the Health & Safety at Work Act. He was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, and to pay costs of £5,673 at Manchester Magistrates Court.
Speaking afterwards, HSE inspector Phil Redman said: 'Inspectors will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against duty holders who fall below the required standards and put lives at risk.'
