A COUPLE who claim Herefordshire Council staff forced residents out of their Ross-on-Wye care home as they wanted to close it down are seeking £1million in damages.

Parvin Menon, 68, and his wife, Madhu Menon, 61 are suing Herefordshire Council at London's High Court.

Mrs Menon told the court, presided over by Mr Justice Mitting, that it was 'unbelievable' how she had been treated by council officers.

And her husband told the judge the authorities had 'used a sledgehammer to squash a fly'.

The pair own Rosedale Residential Home, in Ashfield Crescent, as well as Holly House, in Northampton, and are the sole shareholders of Autumn Days Care Limited.

Council staff 'unlawfully' brought about the removal of all of the residents of Rosedale between May 11-13 2010, their barrister, Oliver Hyams, claimed.

Mr and Mrs Menon had been arrested by police in connection with alleged failures in care at the home but were never even charged, he added.

And the barrister claimed that the arrests were 'effected with a view to achieving the aim of closing down Rosedale'.

On May 11 2010, council officers went to the care home and spent the day telling residents and relatives they 'had to be placed at a home other than Rosedale'.

Their 'sole focus' was the 'forced removal of the residents', claimed Mr Hyams.

"These employees/agents were not going to go away until all of the residents had been moved. And that is precisely what happened."

Mr Hyams said council staff had 'no power to remove' the residents and that the Menons had effectively been 'ambushed'.

Rosedale eventually re-opened in April 2012 but the couple want compensation for the damage done to their business by nearly two years of closure.

One woman whose mum was cared for at Rosedale in 2010 told the court: "I was adamant my mum wasn't moving, but more or less in the end we were pushed out from there.

"I am sorry mum was moved from a bloody good home into a rubbish one," she told the judge.

Kelvin Rutledge QC, for Herefordshire, said the council had genuine concerns the home 'was failing' and had poor ratings from the regulator.

Council officers were helping residents move to other care homes where their needs would be met, said the QC.

But the witness replied: "I didn't want my mum moved. I knew my mum was cared for and I could sleep at night."

Talking about the events of May 2010, Mr Menon, of Northwood, Middlesex, told the court: "It was just all hell broken loose.

"The authorities had used a sledgehammer to squash a fly."

Mrs Menon said that, as Hindus of Indian descent, 'it's in our blood, our culture, to look after our elderly'.

"We were fighting with the authorities who were completely and totally against us and didn't want to recognise the positives," she said.

"What these authorities did to me was unbelievable."

Herefordshire Council denies the couple's claims and the hearing continues.