My overgrown hedge and who has cut it?

aprilrose
Why not contact your Parish Council- details should be in a village newsletter or webpage- explain what has happened and ask if they arranged to have the brambles cut down. Explain that you are elderly and have a disabled husband and are, therefore unable to remove the debris. If they say they weren’t responsible , which they probably weren’t they will surely have some suggestions of where you can go for help or even have a village handyman who could help. They may also have some suggestions for your parking problems.

I agree that putting up a boundary of some sort may be the answer but think twice about the suggestions of placing stones/boulders. The reason I say this is because my local authority view them as a trip hazard for pedestrians and can damage vehicles if they were to hit them and you could leave yourself open to claims for damages - even false claims from people with no morals. It has been known and I'd hate for you to be in that situation. They especially take a hard line if the stones/boulders are painted white because they can't be seen if covered in snow. I appreciate not every local council/parish may have the same rules but thought worth mentioning this to you AprilRose. If they were placed within your boundary maybe you'd be ok? I hope you get sorted without too much stress to you and DH

If you had made no agreement with anyone to do it, nobody can possibly charge you, so please don’t worry on that count.

I would assume that somebody thought it all really needed doing, and that you had your hands full enough anyway.

I dare say you’ll have to pay someone to take all the prunings away, but presumably that will cost considerably less than the cutting/pruning.

If you do ‘Next door’ maybe you could thank the person

BlueBelle

If your garden is a slope how can they park on it I still can’t see the mental picture ? (I’ve now got a camper van in my head with two wheels a couple of feet higher than the other two) Either way you surely can’t have your garden hanging over onto the lane or walkway ? So they ve done you a favour once you get rid of the brambles which to me denotes anger and at leaving them there (to teach you a lesson) check your deeds as to where your garden ends and get a boundary wall /fence/or something established once and for all

Last year a camper van was almost permanently parked on my front. I didnt say anything because I didnt know who it was.

One of our neighbours had a caravan parked on their sloping drive. While they were away a homeless man moved into it and took up residence. They let him stay there until they got rid of the caravan.

Whatever- I think it's a check to go into someone else's garden, cut down plants and dump them on top of other plants. In a village, everyone usually knows the circumstances of neighbours and know that aprilrose is struggling at the moment. Most villages are friendly places.

I'm surprised this has happened without someone knocking on the door and asking if they could chop down the brambles.

They're only going to grow again anyway!

The first thing you need to do is get the debris removed or it will provide cover for vermin as the weather gets colder.
See if you can find someone who will also take care of any necessary cutting back in the future. It will be a load off your mind.

Can you not just put up a sign on your wall asking people not to park on your grass at the front?

O dear, somehow the wind has blown it across the lane 🤔

I agree with Witzend that if you didn't ask for someone to do it you can't be billed for it. The local councils would/should have informed you before doing it if they did it.

If I were you I would plant it up with something like a thick hedge that might deter people from driving over it and parking. It doesn't sound as if it's obvious that it forms part of your garden because it's below the wall. If it looks like a public space that may be why people think they are entitled to park on it.

ClicketyClick

I agree that putting up a boundary of some sort may be the answer but think twice about the suggestions of placing stones/boulders. The reason I say this is because my local authority view them as a trip hazard for pedestrians and can damage vehicles if they were to hit them and you could leave yourself open to claims for damages - even false claims from people with no morals. It has been known and I'd hate for you to be in that situation. They especially take a hard line if the stones/boulders are painted white because they can't be seen if covered in snow. I appreciate not every local council/parish may have the same rules but thought worth mentioning this to you AprilRose. If they were placed within your boundary maybe you'd be ok? I hope you get sorted without too much stress to you and DH

That could be a possibility then - dependant on the local authority concerned I guess.

I've seen a similar bit of land to yours - from what you say - with stripey red and white immovable bollard type things on the side of the red. Very visible and couldnt be driven over accidentally. Vehicles shouldnt hit them - as, if they did, they would have obviously been at fault as bad drivers.

Yes, I suggested that too.

I cannot see how anyone damaging their car on stones, bollards or a fence of some kind which are on your land could possibly claim you are liable.

I cannot see how anyone damaging their car on stones, bollards or a fence of some kind which are on your land could possibly claim you are liable.

But they will. You would think they would see the edge of the road and any obstacles in their headlights even in the dark. But they don't. Or they reverse their car closer to the side of the road and don't expect obstacles and can't see them at the side. Or it's snowing (as mentioned above) and they can't see the side of the road or the obstacles in the snow.

My friend has a huge tree at the side of the entrance to her driveway. She has had to paint big white stripes in it and pin reflective signs on it after someone used her drive to reverse into and pranged the back of his car on the tree. He said the tree wasn't visible in the dark and that he had reversed onto the pavement not into her drive. Not a lot of damage but he threatened to sue her to get it fixed. I don't know whether he could really do that but she paid for the repair just to make him go away because of the possibility of greater costs.

He must have been laughing all the way to the bank. At various times in life people get threatened with legal priceedings over all kinds of irrelevancies. You ignore them, say nothing and if they follow up, talk to a solicitor. Bullies only succeed because people allow themselves to be intimidated.

This is the kind of little job that many people are happy to do for cash in hand. I would find a handyperson as suggested above.

I have a neighbour last year whinging about one of my hedges. I made her wait until the end of the nesting season just to make a point. Now she is back again whinging about the same hedge. The gardner has done his last service visit of the year and I told him to leave it til spring. The hedge is not obscuring the public pavement - just growing out from a parking bay which some of the entitled car owners use.

I take no prisoners where whining neighbours re concerned. She is welcome to get it cut at her expense if it bothers her.

M0nica

He must have been laughing all the way to the bank. At various times in life people get threatened with legal priceedings over all kinds of irrelevancies. You ignore them, say nothing and if they follow up, talk to a solicitor. Bullies only succeed because people allow themselves to be intimidated.

Exactly, M0nica

Of course, if her tree was hanging right over the pavement or road then perhaps. Two of our neighbours are neglecting their gardens and my friend scratched her car on their overhanging brambles, trying to ease past another parked car.

M0nica

He must have been laughing all the way to the bank. At various times in life people get threatened with legal priceedings over all kinds of irrelevancies. You ignore them, say nothing and if they follow up, talk to a solicitor. Bullies only succeed because people allow themselves to be intimidated.

That much is true for sure.

I just burst out laughing at one that one of my nasty neighbour households had me sent one time by a solicitor - and then rang and told the little trainee exactly what he'd said wrong. Funnily enough I didn't get any more letters from them....

I cannot visualise the setting at all. Is the grassy slope part of Aprilrose's garden/ property, or is a grassy verge in front of her house/property? Does she own it?
I wondered if it was someone who walked past the wall and got the brambles in his eyes, therefore cut them down.
In my village brambles overhung the narrow pavement on the road past the school; the houseowners denied they were their responsibility as they were beyond the back of their gardens; the council refused to cut them, the children walked in the road to avoid being scratched, until eventually the team of 'volunteer gardeners' cut them down every so often.

M0nica

He must have been laughing all the way to the bank. At various times in life people get threatened with legal priceedings over all kinds of irrelevancies. You ignore them, say nothing and if they follow up, talk to a solicitor. Bullies only succeed because people allow themselves to be intimidated.

True but she couldn't be bothered with all the hassle because she wasn't 100% sure about the law - it was partly hidden behind a small hedge too. Anyway she'd made it very visible now so she won't be paying out again.

I watched a spoofy video last night on YouTube of a woman crashing her car into a wall and knocking on the door of the house and claiming the wall had hit her car 😆 It took just a second or two in shock before my brain said 'Spoof' but there are so many weird people around now I wouldn't be surprised if it actually happened.

I think we all need to sit down and think rationally and logically more often when these things happen. It is easy enough to sort out the law by going to Citizen's Advice or a solicitor, many do 30 minute consultations for no charge.