UK council bans residents from cutting grass over safety concerns

London, July 20 (ANI): A council in the UK that stopped chopping the grass to save 30,000 pounds a year, has told residents not to do it themselves, in case they hurt themselves.

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council stopped cutting steep banks since last autumn.

However, residents have been forbidden from cutting the grass, which is now filled with litter and weeds.

Some 350 people from the town's Coldstream Drive area have now signed a petition asking the authority to cut the banks, which they say have become 'appalling mess'.

"The council has been cutting this verge for 47 years and there hasn't been an accident yet. I don't know why they think it's so dangerous," The Telegraph quoted Angela Davies, a lollipop lady, as saying.

"It's health and safety gone mad," Davies added.

Residents were also not allowed to hire a contractor and chop the grass off; now they are worried that the area may have turned into a fire hazard with numerous glass bottles stuck in the long, dry grass.

"Some of these banks can be quite steep and we don't want 90-year-old men getting their lawnmowers out to cut the grass in case they seriously hurt themselves.

"If somebody injured themselves, who would be liable then? We don't want people mowing these banks and that's the end of the matter," said a council spokesman, insisting that the council had not threatened anyone with legal action and simply wanted to stop people getting 'seriously hurt.' (ANI)