Wickes customer parks tank outside Basingstoke store after 'shoddy' kitchen fitted in home

• ITV News Meridian's Rachel Hepworth spoke to Paul Gibbons about his protest

A Wickes customer has parked a tank outside one of its stores demanding a refund as he says he had a "shoddy" kitchen installed in his home.

Paul Gibbons from the Hampshire village of Kingsclere paid £25,000 for his home to be fitted out with a new kitchen in February.

He says it has been plagued with issues from mould under his sink, to badly fitting units with a poor finish, and one heavy drawer nearly collapsed on his dog.

He said it left him in a dark place as he could not afford to spend thousands more to fix the problems - which could lead to him losing his home.

Mr Gibbons has now parked a huge tank in the car park of the Basingstoke store in protest and says he won't move it until the kitchen is removed and he gets his money back.

Paul Gibbons said: "Grumbling wasn’t enough. It got to a stage where I nearly lost my house in November.

"I just had enough. I thought 'What can I do to make people sit up and listen and to protect people from being in the same situation?'

"It feels as if whatever you do isn’t enough. But this is legal and it’s going to be enough, hopefully."

The Abbott self-propelled gun is decommissioned and was borrowed from a friend who lends it to people who want to protest against big companies.

"It's the 'tank of shame' when big companies don’t do what they’re supposed to do - you can come and park it outside their lot," Mr Gibbons added.

"The big people can always push down the little people because we can’t afford it."

• Mr Gibbons gave a tour of the kitchen to show all the issues with the installation.

Mr Gibbons said Wickes sent fitters around to rectify the problems, but they would not pay to fix everything to his satisfaction and now he feels like he is in limbo.

He took out a loan to get the work done so he could rent it out but now cannot pay back the loan and is at risk of losing his house.

He said: "There's a huge chance I could lose it in April because I can’t get it remortgaged because it hasn’t got a functioning kitchen."

A Wickes spokesperson said: "We are aware of the situation at the Basingstoke store and would like to apologise for any inconvenience that has been caused to shoppers visiting the store.

"Our Customer Relations team is in contact with the customer to discuss their installation and we are also arranging a full and independent inspection to be completed by The Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman to help us understand what is required to resolve the issues associated with the installation."

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