Has Donald Trump Met His Match?

Trump's latest adversary is a quarry worker from Scotland.

ByABC News
February 11, 2009, 7:46 PM

ABERDEEN, Scotland, Oct. 12, 2007 — -- Isolated on his patch of land in Menie, 13 miles from Aberdeen, Scotland, 55-year-old quarry worker Michael Forbes is taking on the American millionaire and New York real estate development tycoon Donald Trump.

Trump wants to develop a $1 billion luxury golf course and hotel resort in Menie Links, stretching along the North Sea from the Scottish Heritage sand dunes in the north, to the town of Barmedie to the south.

In the middle of it lies Forbes' 23 acres. And Forbes won't sell his land.

"All my history is here," Forbes told ABC News when we paid a visit to his farm. "My grandfather, my uncle came to fish here, I'm last in the line and I will see it through."

If it wins a favorable vote from the local planning commission Oct. 30, the Trump International Golf Links complex would span over 800 acres.

The golf course, with its inestimable view over the beach, would be complemented by two residential areas where Trump plans to build 500 houses as well as time-share holiday homes and a five-star hotel. On the current blueprint, however, in addition to their view of the ocean, Trump's rich and famous clients would have a view of one of Forbes' hangars.

"We've tried to buy his house from him, and since he said no, we offered him money to fix up the driveway to his house," Trump International Golf Links project director Neil Hobday told ABC News. "We've even offered him a job for life doing whatever job he wants on the estate, and we offered to take care of his mother. We're trying to be really fair here."

Forbes claims that his ancestors fished for salmon in the North Sea for generations. Although the stock is now very poor, he still fishes as a hobby whenever his job at the local quarry allows him to, in order "to keep the tradition going," he explained.

"It's a dying trade," he said. "But the Trump people now are denying me access."

Indeed, isolated amid the land purchased by Trump, Forbes now has to take the highway to his last fish net, south of the estate. But Hobday insists it was a common agreement.

"He told me he had fished one salmon all season," Hobday said, "one salmon, and that he didn't care."