A man is embroiled in a row with Virgin Media after returning home to find workers digging a huge trench for a broadband cabinet outside his property.

Paul Skinner and his pregnant fiancée Gemma Parker claim the equipment has been illegally installed on their land and without their permission in Church Lane, Deal.

Mr Skinner says he will not give up challenging the communications giant and its partners Nexfibre after discovering contractors breaking down the pavement - part of which he says falls within his property’s boundary.

Highways authority Kent County Council (KCC) says it is investigating but stated “a permit was submitted and granted for the works on publicly maintained land”.

After Mr Skinner contacted Virgin Media about the works, bosses there say they are also looking into the complaint and insist the correct permissions were obtained and notifications were issued - something disputed by Mr Skinner.

The 42-year-old wants the cabinet to be removed from outside his home or come to an arrangement which benefits both parties.

He describes the whole situation as “an absolute chaos storm” and told KentOnline he is not going to give up.

“I'm going to keep fighting and fighting this. I just don't want other people to deal with this, and I don't want these companies to get away with it.”

Mr Skinner says the work started without them being notified.

“We came in to find our access to our house was basically blocked off and they were digging a hole,” he said.

“Workers then told my fiancée, who's pregnant, to climb over the hole, which is a safety issue. It is an IVF pregnancy too so if she fell and we lost the baby, it would have been terrible.”

Mr Skinner, who works as a chef at the Thompson Bell in Walmer, said: “It’s a joke,

“They then put a board across the hole for us to walk across but had to keep moving the fencing out of the way every time we went to and from our house.

“They also put the box right in front of our hedge so it meant I couldn’t trim it.

“I was out trimming it one day and got told by a worker to stop. I was fuming at that point, being told what I could do on my own property.

“I kept saying I was not happy with it, it needed to be moved, and every time I got told ‘tough’.”

A few days after the workers first arrived on July 8, Mr Skinner was speaking to his parents, who previously owned the house.

They told him to check the deeds to see whether the cabinet had been built on his land.

“My dad was 99% sure that the section of land was still mine,” added Mr Skinner, who believes it has been built on his property.

He says a contract from 1985 shows when a new development behind his property was built, part of the land outside his home was granted an easement - the right to use another person's land for specific purposes.

Mr Skinner said the document states these purposes include providing access to electric, water, drainage and utilities - although it predates when broadband was installed.

He says it is this land which has been incorrectly built on, maintaining it is part of his private property and the cabinet’s location prevents gaining access to other utilities underground.

Mr Skinner added his biggest concern now is that these cabinets are being installed all around Deal, and it could happen to someone else.

“I just feel at this point, these large companies need to actually be held accountable,” he said.

“Not everyone might think to check their deeds to see if it's on their land.

“It may only be a bit of land, but it's the principle of the fact, that people think they can just take what's not theirs.

“I just don't want other people to deal with this, and I don't want these companies to get away with it.”

A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “We recently installed a cabinet on Church Lane as part of our investment in the region to bring our ultrafast broadband to Deal, and we had the necessary permits in place to carry out this work.

“We are investigating a resident’s claim that the cabinet was installed on his private property. While this has not yet been confirmed, we will take appropriate action if this is found to be the case.”

KCC also says several applications for various locations were previously made by Nexfibre for the project but were not allowed.

A council spokesperson said: “Following a complaint received from the resident that the utility company damaged the carriageway, KCC inspectors visited the site and found no damage had been caused by Nexfibre's works.

“KCC has no responsibility for works carried out by utility companies, and inquiries or complaints about them must be taken up with the utility company directly.

“While we didn’t – and couldn’t – give permission for any work on private land, a permit was submitted and granted for the works on publicly maintained land. This included out-of-hours work with three-way lights set up as a road crossing on Church Meadows.

“A condition of the permit was that Dover District Council’s environmental health team were to be notified, which they were.”

Nexfibre has also been contacted for comment.