SOME home owners are receiving letters threatening them with anti-social behaviour orders - if their hedges are too tall.

Torfaen council's trading standards team are warning people about the leaf-lets, distributed by a company, which threaten residents with ASBOs, prosecution and fines.

They were put through doors in the Ponthir area by gardening service Junglebusters at the end of last week.

A spokesman for Torfaen council said: "The leaflet says that if their hedge is over two metres tall they can have an anti-social behaviour order made against them.

"It also threatens the possibility of a fine or prison sentence. This is incorrect, so we advise people to get in touch with us if they are worried." Jennifer Parsons, of Moyle Grove, Ponthir, was one of the people who got the leaflet.

She said: "I was so appalled. It was scaremongering, that's what I didn't like about it. We do have quite a number of elderly people and if they read this they would be terrified.

"It's the way that the leaflet is worded. People who are vulnerable will be very concerned."

Chris Hibbert, of Torfaen trading standards, said: "The council certainly wouldn't go around telling people to get their hedges cut - they'd have to have complaints from neighbours first.

"These leaflets are frightening people unnecessarily." But Stephen Nichols, owner of Junglebusters, of Cwmbran, defended his leaflet.

He said: "If any trees block people's light out then they cause nuisance and they deserve what they get. It can make people's lives a misery. "I don't explain everything because you'd need a big leaflet to write everything on there. It states what the law is, and if people are worried then they can look into it themselves.

"If your hedges are two metres or more high and you're a nuisance to your neighbours - if they can't grow anything and they live in total darkness - you deserve what you get."

l Anyone who is worried about the letter should call 01633 648384.