A hit squad set up to tackle garden weeds for the elderly has told an 87-year-old widow her plot is too overgrown to qualify.

Bessie Sharpe watched her garden turn into "a wilderness" as she waited for Oxford City Council staff to come and sort it out.

The pensioner, of Meadow Lane, Iffley, has arthritis and uses a walking frame. She thought the scheme offering free help to the elderly with their council gardens would be ideal for her beloved plot.

She immediately applied and was even told someone would call round.

She started to get concerned when she heard of other gardens being maintained while hers remained untouched.

And as she waited, the weeds and grass began to take over.

Bessie's son Donald, a salesman from Bicester, said the family used to take gardening equipment over to his mum's house to try and keep the plot tidy.

He added: "When this scheme was mooted we thought they were going to come in a couple of weeks and do it. I feel disgusted."

Bessie's husband Tom, who died seven years ago, used to keep the garden immaculate. Now she said: "It's a wilderness. The grass is about as high as the railings. I feel disappointed."

Richard Peacock, the council's director of housing, said: "The scheme was not to deal with overgrown gardens but gardens that need maintaining. She was assessed as having a garden that was too overgrown to join the scheme."

He said the scheme was set up for only 300 gardens and demand had exceeded supply. But he added the council might look at overgrown gardens in the winter.

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