Chris Fisher with his fence panelling

A row has erupted between a set of neighbours in Bicester over a fence boundary.

Police were called at the weekend after the feud spilled over and fence panelling was destroyed.

Each side has said the other was to blame. On Saturday. Chris and Mandy Fisher, of Buckingham Road, claimed their fence panelling was being taken down without their permission and called the police.

Their neighbour, Jean McCubbin, said a notice had been sent to the Fishers' house - just nine yards away - by recorded delivery, but had gone unanswered.

The dispute dates back to before Mrs McCubbin moved into her semi-detached house.

The Fishers' previous neighbour agreed the fence encroached into her garden by 2in (5cm) - but the situation was never resolved.

She sold the house to Mrs McCubbin in 2005, and so began the three-year row.

The Fishers say Mrs McCubbin has made their lives a misery. But mother-of-three Mrs McCubbin said the blame did not rest with her.

She said: "All we are trying to do is renovate an old house, but we get accused of not having planning permission, of working too early and too late, and of generally being very bad neigh- bours.

"It's just not true. I just want to get on with my life without all this hassle."

Mrs Fisher, 42, who has seven children, four of them living at home, said: "We knew nothing about the fence panels coming down. I called the police straight away and the work was stopped.

"Mrs McCubbin says the fence is 2in over her boundary. We had an agreement with the previous owner that we could put the fence there.

"We have been advised by police that this is a civil matter and should be dealt with through solicitors.

"But we have already spent £5,000 on solicitors and we simply don't have the money to put things right. Our life is a nightmare, thanks to Mrs McCubbin."

Despite living just yards away, the neighbours now refuse to communicate with one another.

Mrs McCubbin, who moved from Blackbird Leys in Oxford to Bicester in 2005, said: "The agreement may have been with a previous owner, but I am the one who now owns the property and I want the proper boundary line adhered to.

"I do not want trouble with neighbours, but things like this always have two sides to the story.

"It is all very unfortunate."

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: "We were called at 9.45am on Saturday saying a neighbour was taking fencing panels down.

"We attended and advised them it was a civil dispute over a boundary and they should seek legal advice."

4:51pm Monday 17th March 2008

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