Glasgow Files: Glasgow Council fail to resolve vet controversy amid duty of care dispute
Dr Lesley Herd has been suffering for over a decade amid a bubbling dispute with Glasgow City Council
A Glaswegian veterinarian and small business owner who nearly lost her life has accused Glasgow City Council of having “failed in their duty of care” in a dispute going back more than a decade. Dr Lesley Herd opened her veterinarian surgery in Kinning Park in 2004, only to face serious issues with a car repair business next door. A subsequent row with GCC has rumbled on unresolved with GCC standing accused of failing to uphold its responsibilities for health and safety and enforcement.
Dr Lesley Herd, benefitting from 30 years experience, in 2004 opened her small animal practice in Stanley Street, Kinning Park Glasgow. What followed for the entrepreneur animal vet quickly became a torturous running dispute with a neighbouring business.
As reported widely in Glasgow Live, in 2006 a car repair business opened up in the yard behind her vet practice. Dr Herd complained of issues to both her landlord and Environmental Health, but according to correspondences shown to me no action was ever taken.
Beyond initial problems the car repair business closed in 2006, being replaced with a car wash. But in 2011 the car repairs business reopened.
It was at this point the repairs business built on their premises without any planning permission being sought or secured. This resulted in Dr Herd’s veterinary practice’s ventilation and air-conditioning intakes were now contained within the garage. One consequence was fumes leaked into the practice.
The planning permission status is a matter in contention by both parties.
According to correspondence from Glasgow City Council Planning Enforcement which I have seen, “the car repairs had been ongoing at the site since the mid 1970s”, and this forms the basis for GCC assuming planning status (after 10 years).
However Dr Herd insists when she first moved to the unit to open her practice there was no garage in operation at the site in question. A contention reinforced by a neighbouring business operator at the time. According to a letter from the other business owner which I have read, he states
“I wish to note formally that the garage has not been operating continually since the past 10 years as claimed”
Dr Herd claims she suffered chemical leaks and indoor smoke due to the car repair business and accuses Glasgow City Council of failing to deal with her complaints.
Eventually the landlord felt compelled to close the building for refurbishment due to the conditions but “received no response to the complaint made to the council.”
In 2014 matters came to a head due to a fire, which destroyed Dr Herd’s business overnight. She explains what happened
“When I opened the door to the main clinic the smoke was so thick I could hardly see and was coughing. I called my partner who was at home who called the fire brigade and told me to leave the building.
Two fire engines, police and paramedics also attend and the paramedics stated I would have been overcome with the smoke with potentially fatal consequences had I not left the building.
I built my business from nothing over a ten year period and it was destroyed, I managed to restart my rehabilitation clinic in December 2015 in a new premises but I lost my emergency clinic business and I estimate that I lost circa 250 thousand to 300 thousand pounds.”
GCC and SEPA
Prior to losing her practice Dr Herd felt compelled to contact the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) due to GCC inaction.
SEPA had been investigating the garage site in question prior to the fire which ultimately destroyed her vet practice. SEPA inspected the garage on March 17 2014 and discovered a makeshift drum used to burn treated wood in a corner of the building. SEPA warned two individuals present that this represented a contravention of the law concerning burning of waste which produces toxic chemicals. The two individuals in question were warned to cease doing so immediately.
Despite the SEPA inspection and warning, Dr Herd insists problems only continued. According to reporting elsewhere “oil fluid began seeping into the property and hydrotherapy pool. The waste fluid eventually completely ruined the pool and other expensive equipment”
In correspondence I have seen SEPA issued a second and final warning in October 2014
The fire that closed Dr Herd’s practice was October 28th 2014, I will tell you that the above letter was dated 31 October 2014. A few days after the fire which destroyed Dr Herd’s veterinarian practice. This raises questions as to whether the law was still being broken when the fire took place which ended the vet practice.
Dr Herd explained in a letter to GCC Council leader Susan Aitken the events which ultimately ruined her livelihood:
“I arrived at work just after 6pm to start a nightshift in the emergency clinic. When I arrived, I was the only person in the clinic and was aware of smoke in the hallway which was making me cough. I called my partner who was at home who called the fire brigade and told me to leave the building.
Two fire engines, police and paramedics also attended, and the paramedics stated I could have been overcome with the smoke with potentially fatal consequences had I not left the building.
The fire was established to have been a controlled waste fire in an oil drum within the car repair area which was padlocked to the rear of my building. The fire brigade had to break into this area to deal with the fire. My business was now completely shut down.”
It is my understanding that Dr Herd nor her partner ever received a reply from Cllr Aitken.
GCC stands accused of potentially failing in its duty of care, but it did succeed in contacting the Doctor to bill her rates for on her old practice at 78a Stanley Street for the period from October 29 2014 until November 2015.
I have seen a veritable treasure trove of documentation which establishes Dr Herd and her partner have corresponded with Environmental Health, Nicola Sturgeon (at the time First Minister of Scotland) and Scottish Environment Protection. Issues remain unresolved but the Dr is being billed by a debt collector.
Glasgow City Council has commented on the record regarding this story that “Planning enforcement investigations were carried out in 2006, 2009 and 2015, corroborated evidence from which indicates that car-repair activities have taken place on the land from 1976 onwards.
No other breaches have been identified requiring action and much of what has been complained about relates to alleged infringement of individual property rights, which is a civil matter and unrelated to the council. Non-domestic rates are still outstanding for the property”
This is an unfolding story which I intend to continue following up on as events go forward.
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Absolutely disgraceful state of affairs 😡
It most certainly is, I have been following the case for a long time now and the councils negligence and obfuscation needs to be brought to light and answered for.