Turkey pong protestors turn cybersquatter

Not bootiful, says Bernard Matthews

By Linda Harrison, 25th July 2000

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A group of Norfolk villagers have gone online to protest at a Bernard Matthews stinky turkey farm.

The British Action Group Against Turkey Smells (Bagats for short) say the poultry stench is so bad at the farm in Briston, near Holt, they can't even bear to open their windows on a sunny day.

And they've turned cyber-squatter and bagged the domain name bernard-matthews.com to tell the world.

The Web site claims residents' complaints have been ignored by the authorities, despite the far from "bootiful" pong of hot cooking fat and drumsticks filling the air. The Environmental Health officer has been called in, but to no avail.

And the smell is just part of the problem - locals also mention rat-infested country lanes and factory lorries tearing around their roads at all hours as other Matthews-related irritations.

According to the site, they've had enough and are to start championing their cause to schools, supermarkets, the council, their MP, the departments of transport, education and health, and the press.

"There are half a million birds on this farm and on a hot day the stench is truly awful," Trevor Homes, a data specialist who started the Web site, told the Telegraph.

"We had written to every council in Norfolk about this problem but decided recently that we needed a broader profile. When I checked the Websites I was surprised to see that Bernard Matthews had not taken every available site option. It was easy to buy the name an register it."

Local landlord Ray Fox added: "The situation is making people in the village very uptight. We can't even have our windows open. It's not that we want the farm to close down; we just want a better environment in which to live."

But a representative for the turkey-processing company did not seem to take the online poultry-bashing seriously.

"We are Bernard Matthew full stop, dotcom, or whatever," said Noel Bartram, operations director at the company. "I fail to see how using a Web site is going to solve the problem. It's silly."

More information on this "silliness" be found here. ®