A PENSIONER was taken to hospital after collapsing in court as he continues to fight a local authority's bid to sell off his vintage machinery.

John 'Husky' Petch had refused to leave the property where he lived on The Green in Dormantown although there was a court order to try to remove him from the council owned premises.

But after a lengthy stand off, Mr Petch was forced to quit the building after barricading himself in to prevent High Court Sheriffs from evicting him in October last year.

Steve Turner, who has been campaigning alongside the popular pensioner, said Mr Petch was found collapsed in the toilets of Middlesbrough County Court after learning that Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council planned to go ahead with selling off his belongings.

Mr Petch was at the court trying to overturn an injunction issued in 1999 banning him from storing anything in the garden of his home in Dormanstown.

Mr Turner said: "We tried to get the hearing delayed as Husky's legal adviser had been arrested on Monday evening when he went to have a look at the compound but the council's legal team wanted to press on regardless.

"Husky got quite upset and emotional so there was a break in proceedings while her tried to compose himself. After we hadn't seen him for 15 minutes we got concerned and found him collapsed in the toilets.

"Ambulance was called and he was taken to hospital where he was kept overnight for checks. Thankfully, he was released from hospital after he was told it was the stress of the court proceedings that had made him ill.

"As a result of his collapse we managed to persuade the court to adjourn the hearing until a later date."

The pensioner was attempting to overturn the 1999 ruling so that he could store his most valuable items at his home, maintaining that it is a breach of his human rights.

The council had already been granted a court order enabling them to start to remove the tonnes of machinery from the secured compound.

A council spokesman confirmed that the legal action will continue.

He said: "Mr Petch has previously been served with notice requiring him to remove his belongings from the premises and the adjournment doesn’t affect that position."

Meanwhile, Cleveland Police confirmed an arrest had been made at the compound on Monday night into Tuesday morning.

A spokeswoman said: "Officers received an emergency 999 call to a report of an intruder at an address on The Green in Dormanstown at 12.20am on Tuesday. Police attended and arrested a 34-year-old man on suspicion of attempted burglary. He was later released without charge."

The case was adjourned until March 23.