Woman goes to the High Court to stop her neighbours cooking spicy food
Joanna Cridlin says she suffers from 'respiratory problems' and that the spicy waft is making her life hell
A WOMAN has gone to the High Court in a bid to stop her neighbours cooking spicy food.
Animal rights campaigner Joanna Cridlin says she suffers “pungent toxic fumes” from hot chillis for up to eight hours at a time, forcing her to “stagger to the balcony gasping for air”.
She says the pong of the vapours “permeates her home” for up to eight hours after her neighbours have been enjoying spicy food.
She is now suing at London’s High Court, hoping to force her neighbours’ landlords to take action and win damages.
Miss Cridlin says she has lived in the Victorian house, which has been converted into flats in leafy Geraldine Road, Wandsworth, for almost 40 years.
One-bed flats in the street go for £500,000, while houses have fetched up to £2.85m.
Miss Cridlin says that since Christmas 2014, have been “causing overwhelming pungent toxic fumes from their cooking of hot chillis which permeate her home.”
She wants the cooking pong classed as anti- social behavour telling the court that she suffers from “respiratory problems” and that the spicy waft from above her flat is making her life hell.
Because of the “pungent chillis” enjoyed so much by her neighbours, she says she has “choked in her sleep on several occasions” and “staggered to her balcony gasping for air” after the chilli fumes brought on breathing difficulties.
“The pungent smell overwhelms her,” the writ adds, describing her situation as “torture.”
She is suing Viridian Housing, who are the landlords for both her and her neighbours, in a bid to force them to take action.
She says the landlords have “ignored her legitimate appeal for help.”
related stories
Miss Cridlin also claims Viridian were responsible for raised levels of carbon monoxide in her home, due to failures to make boiler repairs, which further added to her breathing problems.
She says the landlords are “in breach of their duty of care” towards her, by not reacting strongly enough to her complaints about the chilli fumes.
She is also seeking damages from them for loss of earnings and personal injury.