What the ...! 'Furious ' is not enough right now

[notjustamummythankyou]

Our garden backs onto allotments, and we have a high hedge mixed with brambles at that end. Nice and natural, not causing an obstruction over the path through the allotment on the other side.

The 'gentleman' who we suspect has just taken over the allotment on the other side of our hedge has taken it upon himself to cut back huge swathes of brambles alongside this path. Doesn't affect us but a shame as its a well known blackberry picking spot.

I came home today to find him pulling down our hedge too! I'm so angry, its untrue. He said it was 'a mess' (its not) and 'blocking the path' (it never has).our garden is now half-exposed to the allotments with just a knee high chicken wire fence meant to keep out dogs which will now let yooves in.

Apart from our lovely green room not being the same, its a real security issue. We've had some trouble with break-ins coming over that way in our road. We've always been relatively safe because we had a hedge and not a fence. It feels very exposed now.

I don't know what to do now. I'm not sure what come back I've got, if any. So talk me down: I need fast growing security-conscious shrubs for a 6 foot wide space.

And if you've got any gin, that would be good too.

I'm glad that the council are taking this so seriously. What the hell did he think he was doing?

I'd love to be a fly on the wall when the Council speak to him and chuck him off his plot

It's good to hear that this is being dealt with quickly, and that the council take it seriously. Do you think they're suggesting that a strongly-worded letter from you will help them to take the most significant action possible, e.g. evicting their man from his allotment and possibly chasing him for costs?

Did the chap from the council mention what would happen to allotment man? Chucked out? Buried under his allotment?

Owl

Good to hear this is all getting sorted!

Oh well done OP! Obviously it helps having a legal DP but fantastic work.

I've just bought lots of 99p bare root crab apple, hazel and wild rose shrubs / trees to renew a hedge my neighbour tore down (it was his hedge unfortunately). It'll take a while but hopefully in a few years' all will be well again.

I'm so pleased you've managed to get appropriate responses here!

Wow! What an arse!
Please do keep us updated OP. glad your DH is a solicitor, mine is a barrister and this is exactly the kind of cases he sometimes ends up in court about. Hopefully you won't have to take it that far.

I hope not either, posh.

Dh is doing his scary letter bit. I think the 'strong as you like' comment from the allotments officer was to give them leverage to kick Mr allotment-knob off his patch. I'd be interested to hear how they deal with him from a legal perspective, but I think a strongly-worded caution at least must be on the cards.

Unbelievably, allotment knob (as he shall henceforth be known) was on his patch when i got home today. Brazen as you like! I took a sneaky photo of him from the upstairs bedroom to prove it's him and his allotment .

He's chosen the wrong hedge to decimate, I can tell you that for nowt.

Sorry ... Back again. Just seen owl's comment about bulbs - nearly spat my tea out! Brilliant.

am I the only one half hoping this makes it into the national news at some point to humiliate him completely?

ps - love Owl's suggestion

Ooh twitter queen - where did you get those from?

Local I got them from my local Hilliers garden centre. I think they're only allowed to sell them at certain times of the year ie now, just before they start growing/budding. It might be worth asking even if you can't seem them. I found mine near the tree section.

Is allotment knob (AK for short) around today?

No, I haven't seen him today. It's been a bit wet today so hopefully that's kept him from his butchery!

Got an email yesterday from the council to say that they are writing to him as a priority and that they will be asking him what he intends to do about the damage.

I walked round onto the allotment side of our hedge yesterday. The full impact of what he's done is huge. there is a good six foot of hedge that had been reduced to 4 inch high stumps. We have an wooden play house in front of it so I didn't notice it at first. Then next to that we've been left with 3 or 4 upright branches across another 6 foot gap. That's when I stopped him. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't come home early....

Four inch high stumps! Good lord, what a maniac.

Some people have no idea.
Hope you get it sorted.
I hope allotment man gets kicked out of his allotment.

That's horrendous, I wouldn't be surprised if you felt physically attacked or intimidated by seeing that. It can't be unusual to feel that way when faced with seeing someone put so much effort into removing your secure boundary. If you see him again near your property would you feel comfortable? If not I think you should tell the allotment people etc. He definitely needs to go.

OMG, I loved my brambles at the bottom of my garden in my last house, we got a tonne of fruit from it every summer and it was great for deterring anyone wanting to climb over to get into my garden. I'd be absolutely hopping mad!

Oh god I'd be incandescent with rage! When you confronted him did you mention the harm to wildlife? Maybe this is just me but I thought allotment holders were nice gentle types, keen to live off the land and work in harmony with nature, not environmental vandals. And did he think you'd be pleased with the damage to your property? What a knob. How old is he, out of interest?

4 inch high stumps, depending upon the varieties involved, could regrow quite quickly - as they already have an established root ball which helps tremendously (I cut my straggly privet hedge down to 4" and soon had a much less straggly, slightly lower hedge that was nicely green rather than stalky)

Wow, can't believe how entitled some people can be!

I'm surprised the allotment committee haven't sent him packing already, as he has broken 2 of the rules. I'm sure if it was the committe member's crops he was pulling up he'd be out on his ear by now. I know there can be a long waiting list to get a plot at some allotments, and newcomers are often given shady patches with weeds and poor soil and longstanding members tend to make bids for the best plot. I thought this was so newcomers prove themselves to be there for the right reasons. Perhaps they will wait until the vandelism charges are brought and upheld before kicking him out.

I wonder where he shows his prize daffs. Or does he sell them (and isn't selling produce against allotment rules/laws too?)

The allotment committee doesn't really have the jurisdiction to deal with something like this. The Council is on to it though, and we're following it up with police.

I can see allotment knob through the gap in the hedge as I type. My amazed disbelief is being rapidly replaced with full blown anger. How dare he cut down our hedge, and how dare he have the audacity to come back to work on his allotment in full view of us!

mistlethrush - interesting what you say about potentially growing back.The allotment manager at the Council was going to speak the tree preservation section about this. I'm wondering if they can advise whether it will grow back (although the allotment manager didn't seem to think so).

Brambles should grow back quickly if there are roots left behind. Not sure about hedges though.

He's left most of the bluddy brambles! That's the weird thing: if he thought the was doing good, why raze the hedge to the ground and leave the brambles?

Whichever way I look at it, I just don't get it

If he's back, he must genuinely think he's done nothing wrong. Anyone else would have a "fuckwhathaveidone?" moment when they realised they were cutting back someone's hedge, not wild plants on abandoned land. (I'm not suggesting he should have cut back wild plants, but it's worse that he was cutting someone's else's property.)