A prominent dog whisperer is seeking over £8 million in compensation from the government after his exclusive kennels were compulsorily acquired for the HS2 high-speed rail project.
Matthew Wiggins, who runs WKD Trained Dogs Ltd, provided highly trained canines, sourced internationally, to a clientele that included institutions, “professionals, high-net-worth individuals”. and celebrities such as Game of Thrones actress Indira Varma.
Mr Wiggins established his business at Brookhouse Farm, near Stone in Staffordshire, in 2012. He transformed the 3.4-acre site into a state-of-the-art training facility housing 35 kennels.
However, the Department for Transport (DfT) earmarked the farm for demolition in 2019 due to its proximity to the proposed £100 billion HS2 line.
WKD Trained Dogs Ltd is now suing the government at the Upper Tribunal in London for £8,051,292, arguing that four years of uncertainty preceding the 2023 compulsory purchase significantly damaged the business.
The DfT, represented by a team of lawyers and financial experts, is contesting the claim. It maintains that its offer of £3,262,726 constitutes fair and adequate compensation, suggesting that any additional losses were likely attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Wiggins set up WKD in 2010 with a vision of finding and training the best quality dogs for onward sale. They were often sourced from faraway areas of Europe like Hungary and Serbia.
The 41-year-old specialises in selling ready-trained dogs, having experienced a “lightbulb” moment after picking up his pet-nurturing skills from listening to a mentor and friend who lived near him and “changed his approach almost overnight”.
The tribunal heard that part of Mr Wiggins’ skill lies in his “entirely unique” ability to select dogs with the right temperament to be trained and sold, while rooting out “failed” candidates which are not suitable for marketing, the tribunal heard.
Mr Wiggins’ barrister Isabella Tafur described his business as “niche if not unique”.
“The core business of the company was the sourcing, training, and sale of fully trained dogs,” she said.
“Trained dogs were not puppies and would generally be sourced and sold at an age of between 10 to 24 months.
“It supplied dogs to professionals, high-net-worth individuals, schools, organisations, and families with specific requirements,” said his barrister, with Mr Wiggins adding outside court that one of his celebrity clients was actress Indira Varma, who played Ellaria Sand in Game of Thrones.
Ms Tafur added: “Sales typically operated on a pre-order basis. Customers would pay a deposit with prices fixed at the time of the deposit. Demand typically outstripped supply, and there was a long waiting list of customers.
“Trained dogs were sold with a guarantee. If a customer experienced any problems with the dog, the claimant would carry out the remedial training required to resolve these problems. Customers were also entitled to a full refund if they wished to return their dog.
“Temperament testing refers to an approach whereby the company screened for dogs on the basis of certain traits which it identified as conducive to the ‘perfect pet’.
“The company developed an approach to this testing that was not based on breed, but rather on a list of traits derived from statistics gathered from its remedial training and refunds.”
WKD primarily bought dogs from suppliers either in Hungary or Ireland, said its barrister. If in Hungary, Mr Wiggins would carry out “temperament testing” before selecting a dog that would then be shipped over to the UK, whereas the Irish pets would be tested at the farm after being transported to his kennels.
“By refining its selection approach over time, WKD was able to better match dogs to prospective customers, reducing the frequency of customers invoking the guarantees,” said Ms Tafur.
“By around 2016, the claimant had also shortened its training time for dogs to a period of typically four weeks.”
But Mr Wiggins and his company were thrown into upheaval when the DfT first floated the possibility of Brookhouse Farm being sacrificed for the HS2 line, with the High Speed Rail Bill later going through Parliament in 2017.
HS2 has sparked waves of controversy since getting underway in 2019, with successive governments criticised for its massive costs, the effect on local communities of demolition and the uncertainty of the end date.
Lawyers for WKD say the DfT had dithered when it came to informing Mr Wiggins’ company about the crucial deadlines for making decisions about whether to relocate or terminate the business, but by January 2023 the government had finally acquired the farm.
Part of the dispute between WKD and the DfT turns on the “shadow losses” the company suffered due to the “blight factor” which Mr Wiggins says overshadowed it and impacted trade in the build up to its actual closure, while argument also centres on the company’s “extinguishment value” – calculating the impact of closing down WKD’s business at Brookhouse Farm.
The “shadow losses” cover a period from 2019 until 2023, during which Mr Wiggins says the shadow of the looming acquisition “adversely affected staff morale, performance and retention”.
On top of that, Mr Wiggins says the blight hanging over his business impacted his “mindset and focus” and “meant he was unable to travel to his favoured supplier in eastern Europe for fear of missing out on potential relocation properties”.
The DfT’s barrister, Mark Westmoreland-Smith KC, accepted that “the rate of trained dogs to failed dogs” tailed off during the shadow period, but suggests that other factors such as the impact of Covid were in play – particularly affecting Mr Wiggins’ ability to travel to scout abroad for new canine trainees.
Lawyers for WKD also say the impact of HS2 and the compulsory purchase order also caused a dip in its online training sector, but the DfT’s barrister suggested the real causes were more likely the advent of Covid and fluctuating “changes in market demand”.
Mr Wiggins said outside court that the farm is now “derelict” and his business on ice while he awaits a decision from the tribunal.
The trial continues.
