A man has spent nearly two decades locked in a compensation dispute with his local authority that one councillor believes deserves recognition in the Guinness Book of Records.
Anthony Burton has been pursuing Hackney Council for £2,000 since 2007, when burglars targeted his family home on the Regents Estate while surveillance cameras funded through his service charges sat broken.
The claim is now entering its 19th year, with Mr Burton refusing to abandon his fight despite the council declaring the matter resolved.
"Even if tomorrow the council came round and said, 'OK, we're paying'... if you assess it now, the amount is probably three or four times the value," Mr Burton told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
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At approximately 1am on June 2, 2007, an intruder forced entry through a glass panel at the rear of the Burton property, apparently using a crowbar.
The thief made off with cash, a television, a PlayStation and various other belongings totalling more than £2,000 in value.
Metropolitan Police officers attended within 20 minutes but recovered no fingerprints and the perpetrator remains at large.
Mr Burton had home contents insurance, but his policy was rendered void because he had declared CCTV coverage when taking it out.
Anthony Burton has been pursuing Hackney Council for £2,000 since 2007
|GETTY
"It's a bit like if you're taking out car insurance," he explained to the LDRS. "And the insurer asks you if your car has an alarm on it... and you say yes. Then, someone nicks your car. The police find it, but there's no alarm on it. Do you think the insurance company is going to pay you out?"
The Burtons discovered in 2009 all 16 estate cameras had been non-functional since before the burglary and remained broken two years on.
As leaseholders contributing to the estate's CCTV network through service charges, Mr Burton maintains the council bears responsibility for the failed system.
He sought legal counsel, but solicitors advised said pursuing the case would cost more than the £2,200 claim was worth.
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"They told me I was a fish in a pond, and I couldn't swim," Mr Burton recalled.
When he filed through the Small Claims Court, the local authority disputed that any burglary had occurred and demanded evidence.
Mr Burton says council staff repeatedly assured him over the years that compensation would follow, only for those officers to subsequently leave their positions. "It just goes on and on," he said.
In protest, he withheld service charges and council tax, prompting the authority to take him to court. He eventually settled £1,800 in arrears plus £200 costs.
Conservative councillor Simche Steinberger, who has supported Mr Burton's case for years, arranged a meeting with council managers in 2023. Officials informed Mr Burton they could not find files relating to his complaint, then subsequently told the councillor the case was closed.
"This is going to go into the Guinness Book of Records for how long it's been going on, with so many councillors and so many officers involved," Cllr Steinberger told the LDRS. "But the worst part of it is that officers keep saying 'the matter is closed'. How can they say that with no justification?"
The council expressed sympathy for Mr Burton but stated it has no documentation of any promise to reimburse service charges.
"We now consider this matter closed," a spokesman said. "If Mr Burton remains unhappy with this outcome, he should seek independent legal advice."
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