'It went off like a bullet': Northampton residents call for clean up after rubble on new-build estate is launched by lawnmower

This is the moment a piece of rubble left behind on a new-build estate in Northampton was launched by a lawnmower into a family's window.
A piece of rubble left on a new-build estate was launched by a lawnmower into someone's window.A piece of rubble left on a new-build estate was launched by a lawnmower into someone's window.
A piece of rubble left on a new-build estate was launched by a lawnmower into someone's window.

A resident's CCTV in Shaw Close, Kingsthorpe, caught the moment the rock was fired "like a bullet" after it was hit by a lawnmower on Thursday morning (June 27).

No one was hurt in the accident. But neighbours say it highlights the dangerous rubble left behind by builders on the small park on the new estate by Persimmon Homes.

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Rocks, rubble, metal struts, bolts and bricks are strewn across the small park in the family neighbourhood in Kingsthorpe - and residents are now asking for it to be cleared away.

A piece of rubble left on a new-build estate was launched by a lawnmower into someone's window.A piece of rubble left on a new-build estate was launched by a lawnmower into someone's window.
A piece of rubble left on a new-build estate was launched by a lawnmower into someone's window.

The owner of the house whose window was smashed - who asked not to be named - said: "I had only just come home with my family. We had been standing in the kitchen just minutes before.

"You can see on the video it is quite a big piece of rock. There are bricks and rocks just like it everywhere, or metal or even things like paint scrapers.

"This park was all dirt last year, and they could have cleaned away all the rubble then. But they put grass seeds over it and left it."

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Residents say the grass was "two-foot-high" when the lawnmowers arrived on Tuesday and hid the rubble.

The rock shattered the first pane of double glazing and rebounded.The rock shattered the first pane of double glazing and rebounded.
The rock shattered the first pane of double glazing and rebounded.

But now the grass has been cut, residents are calling on Persimmon to tidy the park.

Another neighbour said: "Children cycle past the park every day. What if it had been after school? I hate the thought of a child being hit by that rock."

A spokeswoman for Persimmon Homes said: "Now that it's been drawn to our attention we will make sure a full clean up is put in action by Tuesday next week (July 2)."