A grass act

Sue Scorer, 30, from Livingston, woke up to find her garden had vanished…

Digging holes in the front garden, my four-yearold son Aaron was in his element. We’d moved into the house two years before, and instead of grass, the garden was a sea of pebbles.

Soon enough, Aaron was out there every day, throwing pebbles of all sizes around.

And, to my frustration, he’d trail them into the house, too.

In August 2013, I had my second son, Charlie.

With a baby and a full-time job, I didn’t have time to be sweeping stones.

So I bought the boys a blue trampoline to keep them busy – but after a while, they were back to digging! I considered covering the garden with grass, but with weeding, watering and mowing, that idea also sounded like a lot of work…

‘What about Astroturf?’ my friend Louise, 37, suggested. ‘Great idea!’ I said. It would give the boys somewhere to play football, and it meant no maintenance for me!

At £3,000 for the front and back gardens, plus a fence, it was pricey, but I knew it would be worth it. So, that November, a local landscaper turned the boys’ beach into their own Wembley. And they were over the moon! For the next few years, my garden was full of kids having kickabouts on the grass. But one Sunday morning in May, while washing my hands in the bathroom, I noticed something odd through the window. The usual blur of blue had moved from its normal spot. Strange, I thought, opening the window. As I peered outside, I shrieked in horror. Our blue trampoline was on the opposite side of the garden… and the grass was gone! I ran outside straight away. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing – my lush, evergreen lawn was now bare soil, with three of my fence panels knocked over. Someone stole my garden! It turns out that the thieves had pinched grass from three doors down, too.

Their turf was rolled up in the front garden while work was being done on their house.

These people were serial grass-choppers!

Another neighbour, Jackie, told me to watch her CCTV footage… and there they were!

Three hooded guys, dragging my grass down the street at 4.20am that morning. I couldn’t believe it. The next day, after I posted pictures of my bare garden on Facebook, a local landscaper, Rab Stewart, commented: That’s awful! I’ll come and fix it for you. Free of charge. It was a lovely gesture. A week later, Rab laid new grass and fixed my fence.

I reported the incident to police, but they didn’t find the thieves.

My neighbours and I are now always on the lookout for any would-be turf thieves.

I’ll grass them up in a second!