A GOOD Samaritan planted more than 2,000 bulbs along a roadside – only for the flowers to be mown down by the council.
Chris Truett spent £200 on tulips and daffodils to cheer up Rotten Row in Southport, Merseyside.
He then spent eight days planting the flowers along a verge stretching over a mile.
But days after they bloomed for the first time, miserly Sefton Council workers chopped them all down.
Chris, 51, said he was "heartbroken" by the bizarre decision.
"It's pure madness at a time when the council don't have the resources to plant bulbs themselves," the joiner said.
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"They were in full bloom.
"All the council had to do was wait a few weeks until the flowers faded away.
"I'm absolutely gutted that all my hard work planting thousands of bulb out of my own money has been for nothing."
Rotten Row is famous locally for its floral displays. However, council cutbacks mean volunteers now tend the flowers for free.
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Chris decided to help out during the autumn, and spent eight weeks planting 30 bags of daffodils and 200 tulips.
He only discovered they'd been cut when he visited the spot to do some litter picking last weekend.
"Other councils in the UK are planting flowers – Sefton Council is cutting them down," he said.
"This is an act of vandalism and a pure smack in the face for me."
A council official said: "We would like to say we fully appreciate Mr Truett's expenditure, time and effort and can understand his disappointment.
'HEARTBROKEN'
"If he would like to contact us, we will arrange a reimbursement for the bulbs planted.
"We're fortune that Sefton is rich with individual volunteers, communities and organisations prepared to use their spare time to give back to the borough.
"We always welcome residents interested in volunteering but ask them to get in touch so we can work together to identify areas where flowers can and cannot be planted and to avoid unforeseen events like this."
The spokesperson said reductions in Government funding mean the authority "no longer has the capacity to maintain" some floral displays.
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"With limited maintenance resources, we do not have the machinery or staff required to hand cut around the flowers in this area," they said.
"We hope that in the future we can work with Mr Truett."
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