A holiday park boss evicted a young couple and their 18-month-old daughter from his site with less than 24 hours' notice after they complained their cat had been run over, it is claimed.

Mum Jazmin Sales, 24, was in tears after she said Albert Lee ordered her and her partner Daniel Joseph, 25, to leave his park.

When they awoke the following day, they found all power had been cut to their two-bedroom chalet including electricity to their fish tanks.

When Mr Lee refused to back down, the couple say they were forced to appeal to family and friends to help them clear their home of furniture. They are now sleeping rough on a sofa at the house of Mr Joseph's mother.

Their ordeal began at 6.30pm on Friday, May 20 when the couple's rescue cat Butterscotch was run over and injured by a white Mercedes outside their home on Saddlebrook Park, Warden Bay, Sheppey.

The couple have since run up a bill for almost £1,500 after vets fought to save their pet's leg.

Jazmin said: "I was at home with Ava. Dan was still at work. I went outside for a cigarette and Butterscotch and Shadow, our other cat, were both sitting by the side of the road.

"Mr Lee and his wife came driving down the road and I heard a thud and Butterscotch ran out from under the car. I could see she had some damage to her back legs straight away. Being on my own with Ava, I couldn't do anything at the time but the car didn't stop to apologise or acknowledge it."

She called her parents to look after her daughter while she went in search of Butterscotch.

She added: "As I had seen the car, we decided to try to find it to see if the driver had a different version. I didn't know who it belonged to at the time. It was about 8.30pm when I found it and knocked on the door with my father.

"Mr Lee came out and my dad asked if he knew who owned the car. From the get-go we got abuse. I asked Mr Lee if he was aware his wife had hit my cat. He started screaming at me that his wife didn't drive around the site at 30mph aiming for cats and that all he could do was apologise.

"I was being screamed at by a fully grown man in his underwear. I was in shock and my dad, who was still in the car, was also taken aback. It was very full on.

"I just gave up and said 'It's fine, you admitted you did it' and told my dad to drive away. By the time we got back to the chalet Mr Lee was walking up the other side of the street waving his hands and telling us to stop the car.

"He told us not to knock on his door screaming and shouting, which we hadn't had an opportunity to do, and that it was unacceptable and he wanted us off the site in the morning as it was his site and he owned the land. Until then, we had no idea he was the owner."

She added: "I said it was OK, hoping that it would all blow over. I was crying and told him I didn't go to him for an argument."

While her parents stayed with Ava, Jazmin and Dan, who had returned from work, raced Butterscotch to the PDSA vets after-hours service in Gillingham where they were told the back leg might have to be amputated.

The following morning, they woke at 8am to discover there was no power.

Dan said: "The first thing I noticed was that both of our fish tanks, which need heaters and filters, weren't running and the TV wouldn't turn on.

"Initially, we just thought it was a temporary power cut. But after an hour, Jazmin contacted the office and was told Mr Lee had turned our power off and still wanted us off the site immediately.

"Jazmin couldn't make Ava her usual porridge for breakfast and pleaded to have the power put back on until we left. But they weren't budging."

The couple called police but were told it was a civil dispute so family and friends arrived at 2pm with a fleet of cars including a borrowed trailer, to remove the couple's belongings, which are now stored across four homes and garages.

They say they had to leave an electric recliner sofa behind because there was no power to retract it to get it through the front door. They had lived at the chalet since January.

Jazmin said: "There is nothing we can do to get our home back. We just want to warn others. It's despicable. A few days earlier we had been painting the fences. Now our lives have been turned upside down."

She has set up a gofundme page to help cover the vet's bills.

Mr Lee insisted: "There are two sides to every story. It didn't happen that way. I have been vilified on social media. My wife and I run a good park and we are both pet lovers. Neither of us would deliberately hurt an animal.

"The cat ran out in front of us, went under the car and ran off. We had no idea whose cat it was or if it had been hurt. My wife certainly wasn't driving fast as there are children on the park."

He added: "Later that night there was loud banging on our door. My wife was in bed and I was in my pyjamas just about to go to bed. It was dark and I had no idea who was out there.

"I tried to apologise numerous times..."

"I went outside and a man in a car asked who owned my car as it had deliberately injured a cat. Then the lady appeared.

"I said it had been an accident and tried to apologise numerous times and sympathised with them but it wasn't being accepted.

"They insinuated I was a liar. Neither of us would deliberately run over one of God's creatures."

Asked if making the couple homeless was an extreme reaction, he said: "I have no further comment."