A man was convicted by magistrates for failing to pull down his garden conservatory because it was too big.

Bradford Council planning officials wanted 46-year-old John Piotrowicz to pull down the conservatory they said should never have been built at the family home in Fernhill Road, Shipley four years ago.

Yesterday Mr Piotrowicz was at Bingley magistrates after failing to carry out an enforcement order issued by Bradford Council to demolish it.

After a long drawn out wrangle between barristers, he finally pleaded guilty to failing to comply with an enforcement notice and was given a conditional discharge for two years and ordered to pay £1,200 costs.

Magistrates heard claims that Mr Piotrowicz had gone ahead with the development after getting advice from a woman behind a reception desk at Shipley Town Hall's planning department in 2002.

He claimed the woman had told him she had more than 20 years experience in planning and that she had told him "under normal circumstances" there would be no problem if the conservatory was built at the back of his house and that the volume was no more than 70 cubic metres.

But Simon Randle, for Mr Piotrowicz, unsuccessfully failed to persuade the bench that his client had never been in breach of planning. He also said Mr Piotrowicz had been a victim of an "abusive process" where a council official had given a "legitimate expectation" that the advice issued over the counter was correct.

The court also heard that Mr Piotrowicz had missed out on a right to appeal to a Government inspector against the enforcement order by one day because of an administrative error that was not his fault.

Alan Evans, prosecuting, quizzed Mr Piotrowicz why he had not taken notes when he went to get advice from Shipley Town Hall and not asked the woman what other circumstances there would be when planning permission would be needed for a conservatory.

Mr Evans said of the court appearance: "There has been plenty of warnings of this coming. He had a letter in February 2004 asking him to remove it and then ultimately an enforcement notice."

Permission has since been granted for Mr Piotrowicz to build a smaller conservatory in length, leaving the height the same as the one already built which will have to come down.