A DISABLED woman has blasted recycling contractors after one of their drivers knocked down a memorial bush dedicated to her late husband.

And 47-year-old Wendy Wilkinson says she is upset that six weeks after it happened, nobody has been to fix the problem.

Wendy, who uses a wheelchair, returned to her home in Barons Close, Lower Darwen, to find the bush, and two metal poles supporting it, had been hit and were lying damaged on the ground. Some of the branches had been broken off.

Neighbours told her they had seen an 'R U Recycling?' lorry reversing on to her drive, hitting the bush and then driving off.

Wendy said: "My husband, Russell, died last October and he was really proud of the bush. It was doing so well that he had even put up poles to help it grow.

"He wasn't a good gardener, so was really thrilled that it had taken.

"I know some people may think it is only a bush but, to my children and I, it is a strong link to Russell and some very fond memories.

"What has upset me most is the way I have been fobbed off. It has been weeks since I reported the damage and I am afraid that the bush will die. I am in a wheelchair so cannot get out to garden. All I wanted was the damage repaired before the bush is lost for good."

Wendy says she contacted the Darwen 'R U Recycling?' depot, but had to speak to three different people on three different occasions before the company arranged for the depot manager to visit to assess the damage.

She said: "Someone from 'R U Recycling?' came and apologised for the state of the bush.

"I asked him why the lorry was on my drive in the first place, but all he could say was that agency drivers are used by the company and that he was sorry for their behaviour.

"He then promised a landscape gardener would come to sort out the bush before it died and I thought that would be the end of it, but I am still waiting and the bush's condition is deteriorating.

"I have been really upset by this, and if the bush dies the children will be devastated."

Steve Irving, depot manager for 'R U Recycling?', has promised that the problem will be rectified. He said: "It was one of our vehicles which caused this damage and we will do our best to put it right for Mrs Wilkinson. I can only apologise for the length of time she has had to wait and will do my utmost to get a gardener to the property as soon as possible."