Sheriff slams length of time to settle case

A SHERIFF has hit out at the "unprecedented" length of time it has taken for a legal action concerning a warehouse in Edinburgh to be settled in court.

The action by The Bank of Scotland against Ross Bradbury of Queens Parade, London, began in July, 2000, and only ended with Sheriff Andrew Bell's judgement on 9 April this year.

The legal action was raised after Mr Bradbury had frequently been in arrears in paying interest on a 40,000 loan taken with the bank to purchase a warehouse in Constitution Street in July 1998.

The first day in court was in 2001, but the case did not make it back to court until August 2009, at which point there were further delays until March 2010.

The Sheriff said: "Delay for this length of time is unprecedented and entirely the fault of the parties".

The Sheriff pointed out that it appeared the property had been unoccupied since Mr Bradbury purchased it in 1998 and had been allowed to fall into ruin.

He granted the bank possession of the property and Mr Bradbury due to pay them 40,989.79 for the loan and interest and expenses.