WHEN council workmen turned up to remove laurel bushes from the side of Ian Hilton's Atherton house, they wished they had taken another 'root'.

For as they started to take up the bushes, they also brought a six foot high brick wall down around their heels!

And didn't impress Ian, of Mealhouse Lane, one little bit.

Now he's waiting for the council to put things right.

He said: "My wife Elaine and daughter Stephanie were in the house at the time and the council workers were removing, for some reason which still isn't clear, some laurel

bushes next to our house with a tractor.

"The next thing they knew there was a huge crash. The entire wall had been torn down and my wife was told it had been caused by a thick root running under it. I call it incompetence.

"It's a good job my wife or daughter weren't on the other side of the wall for they could have been killed. It is sheer stupidity and I want the council to fix it fast. I'm now left with a massive open space and no wall!"

A council spokesman said: "This is an unfortunate accident and clearly we are at fault. It is very rare indeed for something like this to happen, but we will be discussing the problem with Mr. Hilton to make sure that repair work is carried out as quickly as possible.

"We can only offer our apologies to him and his family."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.