Professor fined for changing door

Alison Brading thinks jail might be "an interesting experience"

A disabled university professor has been ordered to pay more than £2,000 for changing her heavy wooden door to a an easy-to-use plastic one.

Alison Brading, 66, a pharmacology professor at Oxford University, said she might refuse to pay the fine and face jail rather than change the door.

She told the court she replaced the door to her 18th Century cottage in Thrupp, Oxfordshire, nine years ago.

She said the old door often expanded and jammed, trapping her in the house.

Officials found out about her new door in 2001 and told her she had breached local conservation laws by not applying for planning permission to alter the appearance of her listed home.

If it came to changing the door or going to jail, I might choose jail Prof Alison Brading

Prof Brading, who was left wheelchair bound by polio she suffered as a child, was fined £50 and ordered to pay a £50 contribution to her local council, Cherwell District Council, at a hearing in 2003.

On Wednesday, Bicester Magistrates fined Prof Brading £330 and ordered her to pay the prosecution's costs of £1,797.75 for breaching that court order.

Chairman John-Claude Peissel told her: "You have pleaded guilty and we are therefore obliged to sentence you on the basis of that guilty plea."

The 18th Century cottage in Thrupp with its plastic door

Prof Brading had told Bicester magistrates she did not know she was breaking the law.

She said: "I had it changed so that I could get out of my house."

Speaking outside court, Prof Brading said she would consider refusing to pay the fine.

She said: "I think it's ridiculous. I can't see that it is to anybody's advantage for me to change the door.

"Nobody has objected to it and I have a lot of support from my friends and neighbours - they all think it's a waste of money to be prosecuting me like this."

When asked how far she would go with her case, she said: "I think I would go to jail. It might be quite an interesting experience.

"If it came to changing the door or going to jail, I might choose jail."