<b>By Rose Cutting
Gardening Editor</b>

An outbreak of lawn mowing could reach epidemic proportions this weekend - sparking warnings for families with young children and pets to stay indoors.

The first sign of warmer weather on Saturday and Sunday will send hundreds of thousands of insane men running to the garden shed to fire up their lawn mowers.

But so many of them will be cutting their beloved grass at once that the noise in some neighbourhoods will reach dangerously high levels.

The situation will be made worse because it is the first cut of the year, leading to much shouting and swearing as lawn mowers across Suffolk fail to work properly.

A spokesman for Ipswich council's noise abatement team said: "Every year it is the same. As we get into March, the first sign of a sunny weekend day has catastrophic results.

"Men take leave of their senses and rush into the garden at once. But this causes the most dreadful noise issues, and we are advising people to stay indoors."

However, members of the council's parks department said the problem would be eased if most of those attempting to cut their grass landscaped their back gardens.

One said: "We would advise ripping up the lawn and replacing it with astroturf - or better still, concrete it over."

A spokesman for B & Q said they were expecting to sell out of lawn mowers this weekend. "Everyone realises too late that their lawn mower does not work after the winter lay-off.

"They then have to rush out and buy a new one, otherwise their grass will remain untouched and they will be shouted at by their wives, which simply adds further to the noise pollution problem."


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