Playing with leaf blowers?

Published: 11 November, 2010

• AFTER many activities, it being half-term, my children and I decided to watch a film on television.

Half-way through my house was surrounded by three very loud leaf blowers. The noise was incredible, but the men using them wear earphones! 

It was so loud we couldn’t hear the film. This went on for at least half an hour and did not seem to make any difference as the leaves were not collected!

I then watched them happily blowing the leaves into each garden. We decided to go to the local childrens playground.

After a few minutes we were surrounded again and I watched the men blowing mountains of leaves into the playground. As my children ran around (they couldn’t see me by a tree) one of the men shouted at them quite fiercely to get away from that area! 

By now I was furious and loomed up and shouted with all my might (so they could possibly hear me) asking why they couldn’t play in this area.  

They said it was very dangerous to be near the leaf-blower machines; to which I asked why were they filling the kids playground with them?

They replied that the next day would be worse because they would be blowing more in and that we should stay away.  They didn’t say if this was actually to collect them or not. And I have only seen the leaves bagged up a couple of times! 

Is this allowed? Can they ban us from areas they wish to fill up? The huge piles are left each day so they can then do the same amount of blowing the next day and so on…

I put up with them before, even though they are very noisy, smoky anti-social, machines but surely this is pointless and a waste of money?

Funnily enough, since I shouted at the said council employees I have come out each morning to a huge huge pile in my front garden...

I wonder?

RUTH GOLDSWORTHY
Sanderson Close, NW5