Blundering contractors ripped up a couple’s entire front garden by accident - after they set to work on the wrong address.
Matthew and Christine Schofield had gone out shopping last Friday, but when they returned to their flat, they barely recognised it and thought they had got the wrong road.
The couple, who live with their with their little Dachshund, Charlie, aged 15, cherished their front garden which was planted with raspberry and blackberry bushes.
A century-old rosemary bush was the envy of their neighbours - but all the plants have vanished, along with gardening tools and equipment.
Neighbours in Edinburgh’s Polwarth area would often snip off cuttings of rosemary, but the couple are now being offered twigs back in a bid to regrow the herb.
Matthew said: “I thought I was on the wrong street when I returned home and saw what they had done to our garden.
“They took the entire rosemary bush, I can’t believe it, it was enormous.
“They also took the raspberry and blackberry bushes, and the gardening implements.”
The couple live in flat three, but bungling contractors from the Spruce Garden Service had been hired to cut down an overgrown garden at flat one.
After spotting the greenery, workers set about uprooting the treasured plants in the front garden.
Their boss has admitted that they went ahead without checking it was the correct address.
Matthew said: “My wife treasured the garden.
“It’s the first garden we have had, and it was a great space for our 15-year-old sausage dog, Charlie.”
“When I saw the empty garden I thought, ‘Surely there can’t be a black market for rosemary bushes?’.
“So I asked neighbours and one resident said he saw the contractors come round and remove it.
“They were in their company van, so he presumed it was all planned.”
Staff at Spruce Garden Services have since apologised to the couple.
But Matthew said he still finds the situation “a bit odd”.
He said: “I think anyone with the slightest gardening experience would know that sort of rosemary bush is not something you would dig up, so I find the whole thing a bit strange.
“I am also surprised they didn’t make more effort to double check which garden, and I didn’t find them very apologetic.”
Craig Young, of Spruce Garden Services, said he apologised to Matthew and suggested where to buy new plants.
Mr Young said: “We made a mistake, it was a simple error.
“We presumed it was flat one’s and went ahead.”
He said contractors normally double check, but no residents were in at the time.
