Residents were left “speechless” after a driver working for a Thames Water contractor squashed newly-sprouted daffodils on a grass verge.

The Vennsys van parked in Tudor Drive, Kingston, on Thursday, April 11, crushing the flowers and leaving a muddy tyre track.

Residents were given a grant by Kingston Council to plant the bulbs last year.

Judith Pottinger, chairwoman of the Tudor Area Residents’ Association, said: “That was a community effort. Several residents living in Tudor Drive are quite upset about it.

“It’s public money, it’s local authority work – it’s terrible. We were speechless.

“They’ve driven all over the verge from Anne Boleyn’s Walk across the bulbs themselves.

“I went to inspect the damage and the bulbs have all been trampled on with big lorry tyres.”

She added: “Because the road is quite narrow and with parking marked out to make it safe, presumably access to houses is difficult.”

A Vennsys spokeswoman said: “We understand the first spring blooms are precious and give everyone the feel-good factor.

“The driver of the van is sorry that he caused concern to residents by parking on the verge and has agreed to keep a keen eye out for planted areas in the future.”

Tudor Drive resident John Rosenberg, who lives near the crushed blooms, said the company’s response was “encouraging”.

He said: “Hopefully his boss will send a message out to the other drivers.

“The two guys in there were quite polite.

"I said these flowers are planted by the community for the community and if you drive over them and trash them, they don’t come back.

“It happens all the time – they happened to be the ones who were caught.”

Tudor ward Councillor Dennis Doe said of Vennsys’ response: “I think that’s all they can do.

"I think what the residents were picking up is there didn’t seem to be any care.”