A FAMILY have been left extremely disappointed after their son's kind act was left facing criticism in one West Cumbrian village.

Adam Myers, cut the verges and grass around an area of his home in Broughton Moor an act which he felt would benefit the community- but after posting his work on social media, the 22 year old faced a backlash from Broughton Moor Parish Council who allegedly  told him that he had committed an act of criminal damage.

A post was put on a community social media group by an anonymous member about the state of some of the grass verges in the Church Road area of the village.

The pictures which were posted showed the usual 4 feet of pavement cut back to around a foot due to the overgrowing weeds and verges- with some concerns that the level to which the vegetation had grown was becoming unsafe for people walking along the 40mph stretch of road.

After seeing the post, Adam who is autistic, decided to take action into his own hands and cut the verges, something which he felt would be of benefit to residents in the village.

He went down to Church Road and trimmed the verges back, strimming the grass and weeds along the verge. However, within 10 minutes of posting that he had completed the work, a member of the Broughton Moor Parish Council commented on his social media post to tell Adam he had broken the law and that the act was a form of criminal damage.

On 11 June Cumbria police received a report of verges being cut on Church Road, Broughton Moor.

Speaking about the incident, Adam's father, Ian Myers, said: "We spend a lot of time encouraging Adam to do things like this so that it builds up his confidence, which will help him in the future.

"The reaction from Parish Council was horrendous. Myself, my wife and my parents put an awful lot of time and effort into supporting Adam and encouraging him to do things. I know there is nothing wrong with trimming verges where safety is a concern as I have read the RPA guidance on grass verges.  I even helped him clean up and make sure everything was tidy, and now I have spent three or four days of this working week worrying about Adam's wellbeing - they have pulled the rug out from underneath him just because he took some initiative and tried to help the community and that is disgraceful."

Broughton Moor Parish Council have declined to comment on the matter.