The most unusual of squatting circumstances

As we launch our new eBook on the eviction of squatters, trespassers and activists from land and commercial property, we take a look at some of the more unusual circumstances we have come across in the course of squatter evictions.

Here are the ones that stand out the most for us:

– Squatters who left a gas cylinder on a heated electric ring, just waiting to explode as we cleared the building

– A protester on the roof throwing tiles down onto our agents, while his fellow squatters shouted at him to jump – who needs enemies with friends like that! We talked him down

– On clearing a group of trespassers from land, a huge pile of beer cans, right next to a sign that said “no drinks or drugs”. The trespasser we asked about it told us it was because they “cause trouble” – as he took another swig from the beer can in his hand

– Squatters in an old empty hospital building ripping the asbestos lagging off copper pipes to remove the copper – with no protective equipment whatsoever

– Protesters standing for hours on a high and narrow beam above the doorway, until they were eventually persuaded to come down

– Squatters in an empty pub where they have pulled out the electrics in a flooded basement – how they got away without being electrocuted is incredible

– A group of protesters camped outside Margaret Thatcher’s old constituency office in Finchley – years after the poll tax was abandoned

– Squatters in a property in East London who set up CCTV so they would see us coming. We managed to by-pass it and regain the element of surprise

– Using our water-based method of entry team to secure the river bank of a Thames-side property – zipping up the river in a Zodiac rib felt quite “James Bond”

– Squatters who were after a life of luxury, so they moved into a ten bedroom £10 million house in North London (before squatting in residential premises became illegal in 2012)