A MAN who provoked neighbours' fury by blocking access to an alleyway and car park today warned his neighbours to "stay off" his land.

Peter Downton, 26, of St Ives Road, Intack, defended his actions and said he could see "nothing wrong" in trying to charge residents a £170 entrance fee to use the alleyway.

Last week a "removal and disposal order" was served on Mr Downton, on behalf of Blackburn with Darwen Council, giving him seven days to move his car which was blocking the alleyway.

And although he has obeyed the order, he today issued a defiant warning to his neighbours.

The paint sprayer said he was now going to mark out the deed boundaries around his property and down the alleyway to provide a parking bay -- which he believes will add £21,000 to the property's value.

He said: "My family have been verbally abused, threatened and bullied simply because we chose to protest about people using an alleyway, we half own, for access.

"My pregnant wife has developed pre-eclampsya from all the stress and is now having to be induced three weeks early.

"When we bought the house in January the extra land was not on the deeds.

"However, we discovered land proofs dating back to 1892 and 1942 that clearly show that half the alleyway and about six feet of land at the back belong to the property, so we requested that it was signed back to us.

"Half of that alleyway is mine and half is unadopted land.

"We have had to put up with cars going up and down it to use the Conservative Club car park at all times of the night and also the noise of beer deliveries.

"What with that and the fact that damage is being done to the tarmac I decided to enforce an entrance fee to the alleyway of £170.

"As I don't own the land that the car park is on I worded the signs as "entrance fees" as everyone who wants to park there has got to cross my land to get to it."

However, police and council parking bosses have said that the charge cannot be enforced as a legal right of way has been established through years of uninterrupted access and have told Mr Downton to remove his signs.

Maureen Moorcroft, treasurer at the Intack and Knuzden club, said the business was affected during the months that Mr Downton blocked the alleyway, preventing them from using the car park and accepting beer deliveries.

Mrs Moorcroft said: "There has been a club running on this site since 1890 and we have never had a problem until Mr Downton moved in.

"Hopefully now the council have got involved and an order has been enforced, life can get back to normal."