Black Rock resident complains about bodywork shop

A Black Rock, St Michael resident is appealing to authorities to investigate her neighbour’s vehicle repair business which she said is having a negative impact on her health.

Velma Ifill, of 5B Fernihurst, said that for several years she has been complaining about numerous old cars parked on a section of land situated directly behind her National Housing Corporation (NHC) unit where her neighbour operates a bodywork shop.

She said the chemicals used there have left her with prolonged sinus issues, and noted that at times it causes her skin to itch and break out in hives.

Ifill, who said she leaves home whenever possible to escape these effects, contended that residents were generally fed up with the unkempt state in which the work area is kept.

“I need the authorities to step in. He has been doing this for a long time and I cannot get any relief from it. The spray that he spraying coming all in the house and at all sorts of hours he out here hammering and pounding, and out here does look untidy and all the rats and everything does be around here and I can’t get any relief,” Ifill said.

“Friday, me and a lady clean up all out here, it was very dirty. We cut the grass and make it tidy. He came and put back things there. So I say I will call in the paper and see if I could get a little relief. I want out here clean and for him to stop with this spraying out here. The spraying is not good and when he sanding the vehicles it does make your skin itch and sometimes I get a rash all over my skin.”

The Fernihurst resident explained that in 2016, following several complaints to the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), she received correspondence, dated October 19, 2016, indicating that an investigation was conducted on October 5 by officers of the Department.

“Please be advised that the operator of the facility has been advised of any violations of existing legislation and necessary action. The matter has also been referred to the National Housing Corporation for further action,” the letter stated.

However, Ifill said, five years later, she is yet to see any action taken regarding her neighbour’s activities.

She said the area was being kept in such a “dirty” state that she and another resident who has grown tired of the rodents decided to clean it as best as possible.

However, Ifill said, the old cars in the area have to be removed and she believes her neighbour needs a stern warning from the relevant authorities.

She said that while she has made numerous attempts to speak to her neighbour about how his activities have been affecting her health, and about the need for him to keep the area clean, his response has always been unfavourable.

“It is not my land nor it is not his, but he should be considerate,” she said.

Barbados TODAY spoke to the neighbour who dismissed Ifill’s claims. He said before he started working in the area about 17 years ago, he had to remove large piles of garbage from the area.

He said if the paint he is using on the vehicles is affecting residents then he would stop the painting.

“Everything you do is water-based now so you don’t smell the chemicals like before…. If the painting is confusing her then I would carry my painting somewhere else and do it. As I told her yesterday, ‘anything that is confusing you tell me and I will rectify it’.

“If somebody come and park their car out here, can I stop them? And all these cars moving. This car belongs to my daughter, this car belongs to the man that live there, this car here moving tomorrow and this one moving tomorrow afternoon,” he said of the vehicles on the property.

Additionally, the neighbour claimed that the rodents Ifill complained about were not coming from his work area, but from an abandoned house close by.

Ifill, who was present when Barbados TODAY spoke to the neighbour, claimed that all he said was not true.
(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)