Staff at a veterinary clinic have accused Corporation of Hamilton gardeners of "butchering" their full flowering hibiscus hedge and hacking it back into their property.

But the Corporation said yesterday the pruning at Hannover Veterinary Hospital on North Street only took place on the City side of the fence and was done because it was overgrown and there were litter problems on the public side.

Staff at the clinic, run by Dr. Maureen Ware-Cieters, wrote a letter to The Royal Gazette to express their "anger and devastation at the decimation of our hedge".

The pruning on Monday was done without consulting the clinic, and involved the pulling up fencing the length of the hedge, the letter claims.

"What right have these workers to do this to wonderful shade-giving vegetation?" states the letter.

"And for what purpose? The beautiful hedge overhung a a piece of property which is railed off and nowhere near the road."

The letter condemns the Corporation for not consulting the clinic, even though it is open 24 hours a day.

"When spoken to with courtesy and concern, all the City of Hamilton employee was concerned about was whether he received the nationally mandatory greeting of 'good morning'."

This hacking back by City of Hamilton and in other parts of Bermuda by Works and Engineering crews will make Bermuda's roads "dry, hot and shade-less," the staff say.

Corporation of Hamilton Secretary Roger Sherratt said yesterday: "We have apologised for any problems we've had with the hedge and we will be making sure that in future we will be liasing with Dr. Ware before we trim the hedge.

"The bush is in her property, but it had grown into property owned by the Corporation.

"The Corporation workers only pruned it on our side of the fence not into her property, because it was unsightly and there had been litter and bottles dropped on the site.

"Our parks inspector did speak to her afterwards and he thought he had amicably resolved it, but obviously not."