Tribunal Rejects Driveway Claim: UK panel rules out adverse possession bid; driveway’s future use uncertain

A long-running boundary dispute in Leicestershire has ended in a legal defeat for a couple who extended their driveway onto a neighbouring garden to improve access to their horse paddock. Railway expert Dr Piers Connor and his partner, Professor Christine Pasquire, have failed to establish ownership of the disputed strip of land after a First-tier Tribunal rejected their claim under adverse possession laws. The case was reported by The Independent, The Telegraph and The Daily Mail on November 5, 2026. The disagreement involves a narrow, tapering section of land measuring up to 1.4 metres wide beside the neighbouring property in Kirby Bellars. Connor and Pasquire installed a block-paved accessway in 2017, intending to make it easier for larger vehicles to enter the paddock adjoining their home. Their neighbours, GP Dr Dawn Moore-Elphick and her husband Richard, objected to the development, arguing that the newly paved section encroached on their garden. By 2021, the disagreement had escalated, with the neighbours threatening to cut through and remove the portion of paving that extended onto their property.The couple’s claim to the disputed landConnor and Pasquire subsequently sought to establish ownership through adverse possession, a legal principle commonly associated with squatters’ rights.