Man offers his Jaguar car in exchange for return of 20ft elephant slide

A pensioner says he would give up one of his Jaguars to get his beloved 20ft-long elephant slide back after the council confiscated it.

The decades-old fibreglass play equipment was taken away from Trevor Robinson’s home after complaints from neighbours, he claims.

The 71-year-old had the 8ft tall slide delivered after spotting sub-contractors preparing to remove it from a nearby leisure park in Gillingham, Kent, two months ago.

Trevor had initially planned to create a pond in his back garden for the slide, nicknamed Ellie, so children in the neighbourhood could use it.

But Ellie was too heavy to carry into the back garden, so the retired forklift driver assembled it in his driveway instead.

Now, Medway Council has removed it after multiple complaints and has deemed it an ‘unsafe’ structure.

Trevor said: ‘I saw them taking it away [from the leisure park] and said, ‘no I will have it.’ They thought I was joking. Then he delivered it to my house for free.

‘People loved it. I wanted to let kids and their parents come round and use it and give the money to charity.’

Trevor had hatched a plan to use a crane to lift Ellie over his house to become the “crowning glory” of his collection of garden ornaments.

However, on Thursday last week, one of the subcontractors came by, saying that due to neighbour complaints, the council had ordered him to take the slide away, he claims.

Trevor, who has been attending the Strand leisure park – Ellie’s former home – since he was a child, says that the elephant is part of his fondest memories.

Now, the self-proclaimed ‘eccentric’ says that he is willing to pay anything to get Ellie back – even to give up one of his Jaguar cars.

‘I think it is diabolical. All the kids loved it. If they haven’t broken it up, then I will pay to get it back. I miss it; it has been a part of my life for so long,’ he said.

‘Everyone is really upset that it is gone. I want to get it back, I don’t care what it costs. I will pay any money – I just want her back. If they let me have it back, then they can have my Jaguar.’

The pensioner said he believes ‘jealousy’ and a dislike for the Union Flag, which is painted on the slide, resulted in the tragic result.

‘It was painted with Union Jacks on the side. There are a few neighbours who don’t like me, but all their kids were waiting to have a go on it,’ he said.

A Medway Council spokesperson said: ‘During our annual health and safety audit of The Strand, the slide, which is now more than 30 years old, was not deemed to be safe, so we took the decision to remove it.

‘Medway Norse arranged for a subcontractor to remove the structure. Once we became aware that a resident had the slide following complaints, we arranged for it to be picked up so it could be safely disposed of, as it is an unsafe structure.’

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