Eviction threat for Blackpool mum due to trampolining teen

A resort mum has been warned she faces eviction after spending just six weeks in her new home '“ for letting her teenager bounce on a trampoline.
Amanda Hopkins has been told her 13-year-old son Dylan Hopkins can no longer use his trampoline following complaints from neighboursAmanda Hopkins has been told her 13-year-old son Dylan Hopkins can no longer use his trampoline following complaints from neighbours
Amanda Hopkins has been told her 13-year-old son Dylan Hopkins can no longer use his trampoline following complaints from neighbours

Amanda Hopkins, 45, could also be fined up to £2,000 if Dylan, 13, carries on bouncing with his pals in the front yard of their Victory Road home in North Shore.

She has since leapt to the defence of her child, who she said has done nothing wrong, but her elderly neighbour says the 10ft trampoline – which was pushed up against her wall – has made her life ‘hellish’.

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And council chiefs have lost patience too – saying they have ‘exhausted our options’ and slapped the family with an official warning.

Amanda Hopkins has been told her 13-year-old son Dylan Hopkins can no longer use his trampoline following complaints from neighboursAmanda Hopkins has been told her 13-year-old son Dylan Hopkins can no longer use his trampoline following complaints from neighbours
Amanda Hopkins has been told her 13-year-old son Dylan Hopkins can no longer use his trampoline following complaints from neighbours

Ms Hopkins said: “I’m sure this is not right. My own child cannot play in his own garden. It has upset me. I can’t stop crying.

“I’m here when he uses the trampoline and doesn’t use any bad language or act disruptively. All he’s doing is bouncing on the trampoline with his friends.”

But pensioner Margaret Craig claimed the thumping against her wall has damaged a light fitting inside her home, and said the trampoline has allowed youngsters to see through her stairs landing window, and left her unable to hear her television.

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“We just want peace and quiet,” she said. “At the end of the day, that’s all I long for. I don’t have any happiness in this house any more.”

Amanda Hopkins has been told her son Dylan can no longer use his trampoline.Amanda Hopkins has been told her son Dylan can no longer use his trampoline.
Amanda Hopkins has been told her son Dylan can no longer use his trampoline.

Lancashire Police said it had received a number of calls about the dispute, and said officers had given ‘words of advice’.

Mrs Craig reported eggs being thrown at her home, which Ms Hopkins said was done on Halloween while Dylan was indoors, and being subjected to lewd and abusive remarks.

Ms Hopkins, who denied any abuse, also called in police after Mrs Craig’s husband, Mike, was caught on camera shouting at Dylan while he was on the trampoline with his friends.

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In the clip, he can be heard swearing while the youngsters urge him to calm down.

Amanda Hopkins has been told her 13-year-old son Dylan Hopkins can no longer use his trampoline following complaints from neighboursAmanda Hopkins has been told her 13-year-old son Dylan Hopkins can no longer use his trampoline following complaints from neighbours
Amanda Hopkins has been told her 13-year-old son Dylan Hopkins can no longer use his trampoline following complaints from neighbours

Mrs Craig said her exasperated husband had just been discharged from hospital when he was filmed yelling at the youths, who were stood on a shed in their yard.

A Blackpool Council spokesman said officials had been ‘working with the police to resolve an issue brought to our attention relating to activity at Victory Road.’

He added: “We have tried to resolve specific complaints with the support of the police but now unfortunately we have exhausted our options and have had to issue a Community Protection Warning (CPW) letter due to the behaviour of occupants and visitors to a property causing alarm, distress and harassment within the neighbourhood.”

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Ms Hopkins, who said she is too poorly to work, said the legal letter had left Dylan, who attends a pupil referral unit, too scared to go back on the trampoline.

Amanda Hopkins has been told her son Dylan can no longer use his trampoline.Amanda Hopkins has been told her son Dylan can no longer use his trampoline.
Amanda Hopkins has been told her son Dylan can no longer use his trampoline.

She also said it was moved away from Mrs Craig’s wall by police, and had not been moved back.

She added: “At first when the police came they said it was a trampoline that’s in my own garden and there was nothing to be done, and the next thing I know I’ve got this anti-social behaviour order. It’s not acceptable.

“I’ve actually been told that if it continues to be reported by the neighbours, the next step is an eviction notice.

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“I’m unhappy because this is the house we have always wanted to live in, and when we got this house it was like a dream come true. The neighbours around are lovely.

“Now I feel like my son cannot play in his own garden because there will be complaints and the police will come down. I feel like a prisoner in my own home.”

Mrs Craig said she asked her next door neighbour if the trampoline could be moved away from her wall. “She said, ‘I’m not prepared to do that, I won’t be able to get my car round,” she added.

“I want a neighbour I can be friendly with, and there’s just no getting on with her at all.

“She’s as bad as bad can be. She’s venomous.”