A former Arbroath Community Council chairman who was condemned by a sheriff over repeated breached contracts has been granted a right to appeal.
Ian Watson was found to have installed faulty windows, conservatories and wood burning stoves through his businesses, Arbroath Glazing and the Fire Station, after a hearing at the town’s sheriff court.
Sheriff John Halley’s judgment stated that in the course of his business activities Watson “repeatedly acted in material breach of implied and expressed contractual obligations to consumers”.
He said there had been a “consistently high incidence of complaints”, and that some of the defects could have been potentially dangerous.
Mr Watson’s appeal against the sheriff’s judgment has now been granted with a date still to be fixed for the hearing.
The note of appeal submitted by Arbroath solicitor Nick Whelan disputes three specific parts of the sheriff’s judgment.
The appeal concludes: “In all of the circumstances it is submitted that the pursuers have failed to establish that the actions of the defender has established that he has engaged, or is likely to engage in conduct which amounts to either domestic or community infringements which will harm the collective interests of the consumers.”
Trading Standards became involved after a complaint in October 2009 that roof sheeting supplied by Arbroath Glazing was ill-fitting and poorly finished.
They then identified 12 other complaints made between November 2008 and January 2010.
The investigation led to Angus Council taking action against Watson in a hearing that lasted 15 days between July 2012 and September last year.
Mr Watson said: “I am being denied justice. I have an appeal in process, but Angus Council is throwing tens of thousands of pounds at this and hiring top legal people.
“I can’t compete against all that public money. I’ve felt like a prisoner in my own home ever since the sheriff’s judgment.
“My reputation is in bits, but I don’t feel that I have done anything wrong and I’m convinced the appeal process will prove this.
“I’m looking forward to clearing my name and putting all this behind me.”
Mr Watson was the last chairman of Arbroath Community Council until it was dissolved last year after almost a year of controversy.
He previously worked alongside Angus Council in the fight against Arbroath’s urban gull problem after the local authority gave his Dragon’s Den-style idea the green light.
Mr Watson’s colourful idea was the subject of a trial with red patches being painted at gull “hotspots” across the town.