Tyson Fury and family ordered to pay £100k in land row
Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury was on holiday during the hearing Tyson Fury and his brothers must pay nearly GBP100,000 after a judge ruled they owed unpaid business rates in a row over land used as a car park. Cheshire East Council argued the sum was due on land owned by the boxing champion and his brothers John and Shane near Manchester Airport.
Their representatives said they were not liable because they rented out the land to be run as an airport car park. The boxer’s father John appeared at the hearing at Chester Magistrates Court. District judge John McGarva said the family’s evidence was “wholly unsatisfactory” partly because none of the brothers were present in court.
Their father said his son paid “millions of pounds in tax each year” and assertions that the fighter had “anything to do” with the land in Styal were “ridiculous”. The boxer and his brothers were ordered to pay the council GBP82,000 in unpaid rates and GBP17,000 in court costs. The land on Moss Lane in Styal was transferred by John Fury to his sons in 2010 but the family’s defence counsel Martin Budworth argued their father was still “the effective controller of operations on the site”.
John Fury had rented it out to tenants Holiday Car Parks Manchester Ltd, meaning the brothers would not be liable for the bill, he claimed. The court heard the brothers had been issued with Cheshire East Council demands for unpaid business rates owed since April 2021, totalling GBP82,166. Mr Fury said he was “the man of that land” and his sons had “nothing to do with it”.
Describing himself as “semi-illiterate”, he said: “I’m a boxing coach. I had no knowledge of any of this. This technical stuff it’s not my field.
“I try to keep away from paperwork because I’ve no understanding. I don’t want to embarrass myself in public.” Cheshire East Council business rates manager Helen Sefton said they could find “no evidence” that Holiday Car Parks Manchester Limited was trading from the land.
Story continues In his ruling, Judge McGarva said evidence produced to demonstrate the land was being used by the company was “wholly conflicted”. The judge called Holiday Car Parks Manchester Limited director Babikir Elmosbah a “wholly unreliable witness”.
Tyson Fury grew up in Styal before moving to Wythenshawe in Manchester. The court heard he and his family are on holiday in Saudi Arabia, where he is due to fight Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight title next year. Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, X and Instagram?
You can also send story ideas to [email protected][1][2][3]