SIR, — I cannot quarrel with St Albans District Council s intentions to keep our gutters free from weeds, but I am appalled and irritated at the slipshod way the weedkiller is administered, at least in this area. Some of us here take pains to keep the gra

SIR, - I cannot quarrel with St Albans District Council's intentions to keep our gutters free from weeds, but I am appalled and irritated at the slipshod way the weedkiller is administered, at least in this area.

Some of us here take pains to keep the grass verge fronting our properties in a reasonable condition. So it is particularly disappointing to note that over a few days last week the grass, in a ragged strip up to one-foot wide from the edge of the gutter, has died. Many sections of the roads around here have been affected like this - and it isn't an attractive picture.

Earlier this year, in an attempt to counter the inevitable, I did ring the council to ask if an effort could be made this year to avoid this happening; obviously, nothing came of that.

I appreciate that the grass verge is the district council's responsibility but if some householders take pains to improve it, surely the least the council can do is to co-operate and instruct its workers to take more care in the application of weedkiller so that we don't have to look out on an ugly band of dead grass all the summer?

DAVID HAWTHORN,

Hazelwood Drive, St Albans.