Police called to settle village tank row

Residents in a quiet village are embroiled in an extraordinary neighbourhood row after a military enthusiast bought a £10,000 tank and parked it outside his home. The huge green tanklike crane, designed to carry out battlefield repairs, has been sitting in a lay-by since new owner Nicholas Kravchenko drove it there last week. Residents living in the normally tranquil area of Wolvercote, near Oxford, Oxon, have branded the machine an ''eyesore''.

Police have now been called in to settle the "neighbourhood dispute" amid claims the £10,000 tank was intimidating locals. The enthusiast bought the former Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) armoured vehicle second-hand to drive it for his own pleasure to display it at shows and charity events. Mr Kravchenko, a retired army engineer, is now refusing to move the four-tonne camouflaged vehicle, which came complete with caterpillar tracks and takes up three-and-a-half normal parking spaces.



''I can go out and drive it any time I like. There's no law to stop anyone having 10 tanks," he said. ''The council have not said it's anti-social and the police would have been straight on to me if it was parked illegally. ''It's not intimidating, because it's a square box with a Rolls-Royce engine in it and it doesn't stick out in the road.''

Mr Kravchenko, who calls himself "Tank Man", claimed he was the victim. "I'm fed up with it," he said. Neighbours said he was ruining their street. They appealed to Oxford City Council to take action but the authority said it was powerless to act. One neighbourwoman, who did not want to be named, feared her neighbour would leave it there permanently. ''It's an eyesore and is upsetting and scares the little kids," she said. "One toddler asked her mum if we were in a war. It's not right."