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Family's house boat vanishes
| | A FATHER says his family has been left homeless after their houseboat was taken from its mooring where it was at the centre of a row with marina owners. Vincent Shalom lived on the Picton at Penarth Marina for seven years with wife Marie and their five children. Crest Nicholson, the owners of the marina, said the vessel was uninsured and in breach of contract. The boat's removal was the culmination of a long-running legal battle. Mr Shalom said his family were now without their home after the Sheriff of Cardiff seized the boat. For the past few months the family has been living "out of a suitcase", said Mr Shalom, because they are not allowed to stay on the boat.
"I can't find words to describe what we feel. We drive every day to see the boat but today it has disappeared off the face of the Earth," said Mr Shalom. "We have made inquiries with the harbour authority but they were not forthcoming and only confirmed it had left Cardiff Bay but they were not prepared to tell me where it had gone. "They said it might have something to do with Crest Nicholson, that means the boat is somewhere but we don't know where. Our home is somewhere else with our pet goldfish on it, it has just gone. "We have always been hoping common sense would work things out, we hoped people would respect our way of life for 14 years, but this is the way Cardiff Bay is developing. "Our home has been taken with no notification. They have sanctioned the removal of a perfectly good family home." A spokesman for Crest Nicholson said, "The removal of the MV Picton by the High Court Sheriff is the final stage of a lengthy legal process resolving the issue of trespass by the vessel's owners. "This has been triggered by the owners' failure to comply with the court order requiring the removal of MV Picton from the prohibited area. "It's a step that Crest Nicholson has delayed to give the owners as much time as possible to seek their own resolution. Sadly that has not happened, leaving no other way forward for the court than to enforce the possession order. He said legal action "was not taken lightly" and followed months of attempts to resolve the issue. | | |
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