A PENSIONER was driven so far round the bend by Meals on Wheels drivers messing up her front lawn when manoeuvring their vehicles that she cancelled the service.

Margaret Rankin, 92, of Shepherds Hill, Harold Wood, called a halt to the daily hot meal service she had signed up for to ease her recuperation after returning home from hospital just last week.

She said it had been a headache with “daily tyre marks” since she first signed up for the service in October but it was the last straw when one of the drivers ended up actually stuck in the grass and mud and had to call a tow truck to pull him out.

Mrs Rankin said: “The wheels were going round and round and shooting up all the mud. In the end I turned the food away. I couldn’t cope with their insults and rudeness.”

She said the issue had been because the drivers said they were unable to manoeuvre out of the road any other way from her house, which is reached by a drive between two other properties in the road.

But Mrs Rankin said: “I actually tell them how they can turn outside my garage. I get out every day when I use the car and don’t have to drive over the grass.

“I’ve said to them leave the truck down there and walk the food across the grass, but they won’t. It’s only a little dish.”

Her friend Bob Mowson, who tends to her garden, said: “It’s not fair to treat an elderly lady like this. I can’t believe they’ve got the nerve to do this sort of thing. If the council didn’t do anything and I wasn’t here they would probably just ignore it.”

Margaret was in hospital because being treated for poisoning for about a month. Since, she has had home carers to visit her to ensure she takes her medication as well as the Meals on Wheels.

“I thought I would cope with having Meals on Wheels while I’m not 100per-cent fit but now I think I’m better off cooking my own.”

Since last week a friend of Mrs Rankin’s has been buying her food shopping and she is back to preparing her own meals.

Cabinet Member for Children and Learning, Councillor Paul Rochford said: “Our meals on wheels vehicle accidentally damaged Mrs Rankin’s lawn whilst delivering a meal. We have visited Mrs Rankin to apologise in person and will to repair the damage to her lawn at as soon as practical.”