A Milton Keynes woman has voiced her fury after her neighbour ordered contractors to dig a 15-foot trench through her front garden while she was at work.
Melanie Abbott, 48, came home to discover mounds of earth on the grass where a deep trench had been dug and refilled on Tuesday.
Workers had used mechanical diggers to tear up sections of her lawn without permission.
Doorbell camera footage captured a worker in high-visibility clothing using the vehicle to haul up grass from Ms Abbott’s property.
Enraged, she posted the footage on TikTok, where her videos have garnered more than one million views and widespread support.
“I just came home from work and I said to them: ‘What’s going on?’ They said they were laying cable for these two houses,” Ms Abbott told the Mail.
PICTURED: A digger rips up turf on Melanie Abbott’s lawn
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TIKTOK/MELANIE.ABBOTT2
“I said ‘I never asked for that?’ The workmen told me my neighbour had asked for it.”
It emerged that the 48-year-old’s neighbour, Carol Wilson, had told Openreach subcontractors to lay down internet cables as part of broadband infrastructure upgrades.
Ms Abbott said she felt “stressed and very angry” about the surprise dig – though Ms Wilson has offered to pay for new turf to repair the damage.
“Why did they do it without my permission? She won’t talk to me now,” she said.
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Ms Abbott said she felt ‘stressed and very angry’ about the surprise dig
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TIKTOK/MELANIE.ABBOTT2
The incident sparked heated exchanges between Ms Abbott and her neighbour’s husband – who have lived next door to each other for 12 years without dispute.
“I would never think of just pulling up somebody else’s garden,” she blasted – and revealed she would consult a solicitor to explore her legal options.
“I’ll need them to come and obviously remove the cable. They will also need to fix the whole garden,” she said.
Ms Abbott contacted Openreach but was told the firm could not discuss the matter as the work order was in her neighbour’s name.
The incident sparked heated exchanges between Ms Abbott and her neighbour’s husband – who have lived next door to each other for 12 years without dispute
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TIKTOK/MELANIE.ABBOTT2
Ms Wilson, who has owned her property since 1998, said Openreach arrived unexpectedly more than two months before the scheduled date.
“I wasn’t even expecting Openreach to be round and do that until the end of January. I had every intention of talking to her [Melanie] prior to that and offering to make good any damage to the grass,” Ms Wilson said.
“They [workers] turned up two months early and they started doing that work before I even realised they were here.”
Milton Keynes Council confirmed it was investigating the matter after receiving no advance notice of the work.