A STREET artist from the Chepstow area who recently transformed his house into a huge mural claims his eye-catching works have resulted in a campaign of "harassment", ending in his tyres being slashed - his neighbours disagree.
Toby Garrett lives in Sedbury, just outside Chepstow.
Back in 2021, he hit Argus headlines for making an unloved underpass beneath the M48 a more colourful welcome to Wales.
Mr Garrett is well known in the area for his colourful creations, with a display in the front garden of his home even drawing the ire of the Forest of Dean Council.
However, as well as the council, Mr Garrett says he has now also found himself in a dispute with his neighbours.
Toby Garrett
Mr Garrett explained that things came to a head recently while he was painting his latest mural on his house.
"A woman started having a go at me. I asked her to leave me alone," he said.
"She kept at it and I was ignoring her."
In the end, Mr Garrett says he called the police.
This, Mr Garrett said, led to things "getting a lot worse".
He claims that the woman's son soon began a campaign of social media harassment.
The neighbour in question is David Nichol, who also spoke to the Argus to give his side of the story.
"I lost it on Facebook because he said stuff about my mum, but when the police came round they were biased in favour of him," he said.
He claims that it is in fact Mr Garrett who has "lost his temper, turning his whole house into a mural" after residents got the council involved and Mr Garrett was forced to remove a previous project.
"I know artists, but they don’t do things like this," Mr Nichol said.
He claims the deeds to Mr Garrett’s house "clearly state that he can’t paint the brickwork".
Mr Garrett claims that he has largely received positive feedback, but "this guy (Mr Nichol) is accusing me of painting my house illegally".
"I’ve not seen any proof," he said,
Mr Nichol, however, said that the people "saying it looks lovely don’t have to look at it all the time".
"People living in Bulwark, their opinion isn’t valid," he said.
Mr Nichol is among a group of 20 or so other residents who are in opposition to Mr Garrett's work - though they have asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.
One resident said: "We’re a decent area. Never had any trouble in the street.
"We’re nearly all pensioners. This is a bit of a smack in the face. There’s nothing like it in the whole parish.
"We don’t want the street turned into a ghetto."
Toby Garrett's car, which he claims had its tyres slashed
Things took a more sinister turn earlier this month when Mr Garrett says he returned home from work to find his tyres had been slashed, costing him £94 to fix.
Mr Garret has reported the slashing of his tyres to Gloucestershire Police, who were contacted for comment.
Forest of Dean Council have also been contacted for comment.
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