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  Gary RK September 15, 2016 at 2:48pm

  Appalling. I saw that story via tweet and think it even made the national red-tops.

  You would think that common sense (even if no experience) would cause you to stop, look back and take stock !
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    Richard Gadsby > Gary RK September 15, 2016 at 4:08pm

    I saw it earlier in the year. One of my clients showed it to me and made the joke of saying he hoped it was not me!
    
    It obviously should not have happened. I does irritate though as doing this type of work the councils expect perfect work for as cheap as possible.
    I had to cut last week when it was too wet really as the grass was getting long and weather forecast poor. When it takes 2 days to get round it can be a real problem as they don't like it when you don't finish on consecutive days.
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  Jeff McCoy September 15, 2016 at 4:37pm

  Unbelievable, simply unbelievable.
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  Phil Voice September 15, 2016 at 4:47pm

  I'm not saying that it was the case in this instance but I do understand how, sometimes, situations like this can arise because a lack of common sense when contracts are compiled.

  I ran a large council contract for a number of years and the (then) contracts manager would run the contract strictly to the specification. The specification sated that the grass had to be maintained between a certain height and we were fined penalty amounts if the specification wasn't met.

  I'm pleased to say that in our case I managed to change the way the contract was administered but until that point the contract's manager forced us to stick the contract.

  I do hope times have changed for every firm in that situation?
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  Dan Frazer Gardening September 15, 2016 at 8:47pm

  You do have to feel sad, though, when you hear things like "my husband has to clear up the cuttings". 'HAS' to? He could just leave them, they do no harm!
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    Ben Gilg > Dan Frazer Gardening September 15, 2016 at 9:16pm

    Unbelievably council/contract workers in Stafford today have wrecked havoc on the verges by cutting too low in the wet, was tempted to take some pictures but was rush hour.
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      Richard Gadsby > Ben Gilg September 15, 2016 at 10:22pm

      This is part of the problem Phil was talking about. They expect the grass to be almost scalped. If I lift the cut to something like I'd cut a lawn I'd have phone calls and emails complaining about it being too long. The problem is compounded if rotary mowers are used
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  Alistair Simpson September 17, 2016 at 1:17pm

  From my point of view with the current climate of commercial grounds maintenance the need to cut grass that is wet and/or when it's raining is unfortunately unavoidable if the weather turns unfavourable for longer periods a whole week of rain for instance. Having said that though there is the endangered skill known as common sense that you have to apply. If you walk on grass and its squelching common sense says putting a tonne of lawn mower is going to cause problems. As others have mentioned it comes down to contracts and contracts managers, but giving grass cutting operatives/ gardeners a little bit more responsibility and allowing the use of initative would help massively.
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  john newton September 17, 2016 at 2:05pm

  I worked on a ground maintenance firm where this could happen very easy. No names mentioned.
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    Chris Jackson September 19, 2016 at 1:20pm

    The council regularly go round spraying from a quad bike here. One hand on the handlebars, lance in the other hand and trundle along spraying. I've even seen spraying the road edges from a moving car! One person driving and the passenger with an arm out of the window spraying.