A neighbour row has gone viral after workers dug up a trench across a homeowner’s lawn.
The Milton Keynes resident has become an internet sensation after sharing doorbell camera footage of contractors excavating a huge trench through her front garden without consent.
Melanie Abbott, 48, returned from work to discover that Openreach engineers had dug a 15ft channel across her lawn to install broadband cables for her neighbouring property.
The TikTok clip, which captures the aftermath of the excavation work, has now attracted approximately one million viewers.
Ms Abbott found mounds of earth where the trench had been refilled, with grass seeds scattered over the disturbed ground.
The neighbour responsible for ordering the internet installation has since offered an apology, according to Ms Abbott.
The woman explained that she had anticipated workers would dig a narrow channel by hand, remaining within her own property boundary.
She insisted she had no prior knowledge that such extensive disruption would occur on her neighbour’s land.
Melanie Abbott was shocked to discover a trench being dug in her garden
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TIKTOK: MELANIE ABBOT
“They [Openreach] should have been coming out on the January 26,” the neighbour said, but revealed they had actually turned up “on the November 26 without any notification”.
“They’d already started doing the job before we even realised they were here,” she said.
The apologetic neighbour said that because “the copper wiring is getting turned off”, she had “no choice but to have the full fibre put in”.
“They had no choice but to go on her garden,” she told the BBC.
The irate homeowner’s video has gone viral on social media
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TIKTOK: MELANIE ABBOT
Ms Abbott subsequently filmed herself confronting the neighbour and warning of potential legal consequences.
Despite the apology, Ms Abbott remains unsatisfied with the situation and has arranged to meet with a solicitor to explore her legal options.
Openreach, which is currently upgrading copper infrastructure to full fibre connections across Milton Keynes, has launched an inquiry into the incident.
A spokesman for the company explained that such an operation would have required a legal agreement with whoever’s land workers would have to interfere with.
“Our engineers generally need permission to dig when crossing private property and would have to apply for a wayleave,” he said.
The Openreach spokesman explained this was “a legal agreement between us and the landowner” that allowed them to “cross or dig on land that belongs to someone else to provide service to a third party”.
“We’re currently investigating to check whether all the rules were followed in this case,” the spokesman added.