A MAN who was fined £960 after he was convicted of failing to tear down an unauthorised extension at his Huddersfield has lost an appeal.

And Yash Pal Kansal has been told he was lucky not to have to pay more.

Now he faces having to rip down the building which he claims was for use by his ageing mother.

Senior judge, Lady Justice Rafferty, rejected applications by Mr Kansal to challenge his fine and his April 2012 conviction for failing to comply with an enforcement notice.

The judge told the Court of Appeal that £14,000 in legal costs had been lost on Kansal’s civil proceedings and his criminal trial at Bradford Crown Court last April.

“He was clearly fortunate that the Recorder didn’t order him to pay them,” said the judge, sitting in London yesterday with Mr Justice Wilkie and Judge Charles Wide QC.

Kansal’s troubles began in May 2007 when he was granted planning permission by Kirklees Council for a two-storey extension to the rear of his home in Ridgeway, Dalton.

The 65-year-old required the additional space to cater for the needs of his disabled and elderly mother, but breached the permission by building out too far.

In January 2011, he was served with an enforcement notice requiring that he demolish a single storey extension which extended another 3m beyond the authorised development.

Failure to comply resulted in him being brought before the crown court last April and his conviction for failing to obey the notice, with the fine on top of that.

Yesterday Kansal travelled to London to present his own appeal application to the judges, but spoke for less than five minutes before his case was rejected.

Lady Justice Rafferty said he had “no valid ground of appeal” against conviction and that the £960 fine was well within the appropriate range.