A keen gardener was stunned when police threatened him with a fine for a public order offence because his garden hedge art work was shaped – LIKE A PHALLUS.
Green-fingered Ian Ashmeade, 53, snipped a bush on his driveway into the offending shape in 2002 as a laugh after he noticed the shrub had started to grow that way on its own.
But a police officer visited his home last week and threatened him with an £80 fine for a public order offence if he did not ”modify” the topiary.
Father-of-three Ian – a pea shooting champion – has now trimmed the shrub into the shape of a tube, with a pea emerging from the tip.
IT worker Ian, from Haddenham, near Ely, Cambs., today said he is ”disappointed” that someone has complained about his creation.
He said: ”The topiary has been in its pruned state for more than eight years and nobody has had a problem with it.
”Why somebody has taken offence to it now is very difficult to understand and I’m quite disappointed. I think it’s very sad.
”A policeman came around to my house and told my wife that someone had complained about the bush.
”He said that if I didn’t do something I would be facing an £80 fine and could be charged.”
The policeman spoke to Ian’s wife on October 1 and ordered the bush be ”modified” by October 6 or the couple would face a fine.
Ian, who won the World Pea Shooting Championships in Witcham, Ely, Cambs., in July this year, pruned the offending shrub into the shape of a pea shooter on October 5.
A spokesman for Cambridgeshire Constabulary confirmed an officer threatened Ian with a fine following a complaint about his shrub.
He said: ”Officers received a complaint from a member of the public regarding the shape of a shrub.
”Officers went round at the weekend and asked the man to change its shape or he would be fined for a public order offence.”
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what a dick
what exatly is the crime here?
gives a whole new meaning to the phrase..”that officer sure seems to have a stick in his @$$”
Good thing that he does’t have a fire hydrant on his property.
hahahahahahaha…..lol
Nanny State: Even regulates how you trim your bush.
Careful USA, the Nanny State is growing here, too.
More words needed here. If you are not providing details here then how one should know the fact.