Hogg Hodgson had been patient for years.
His farm is at one of the most photographed lakes in England’s Lake District. The area attracts millions of visitors every year and during busy bank holiday weekends the roads around it become gridlocked. Tourists have long treated the surrounding countryside as their personal overflow car park.
Hodgson had tried everything. He posted signs. One read “Polite Notice: DO NOT PARK IN THE FIELD.” Another warned that sheep were present. He’s tried talking to them face-to-face. He placed large rocks across the field entrance to physically block access. It doesn’t work.
During a recent bank holiday heatwave, more than 20 vehicles parked directly on his farmland. Some of them moved the rocks to get in.
Hodgson reached for the slurry spreader.
He methodically coated every vehicle in liquid cow manure. A black Mercedes took the worst of it. Jaguars and BMWs were among the other casualties. Bystanders filmed the whole thing. Car owners returned to find their vehicles soaked in the substance and the video spread across social media within hours.
Cumbria Police confirmed they were made aware of the incident at 10pm and noted, perhaps pointedly, that the cars appeared to have been parked on private land without permission.
Hodgson himself was measured about it. “I’m not proud of what I did, but I am sick of being abused by people when I ask them not to park on our land.”
He also noted that tourists regularly leave gates open, break fences, and drop litter across his fields. A local parish council confirmed his farm was not the only one affected.
The local car wash definitely had unusually busy afternoon.
Tourists Thought It Was Free Parking… The Farmer Had Other Plans
