A retired RAF musician who played for the Queen says his life has become a living nightmare because a neighbouring garden has grown wildly out of control.
Fred Sweenie says the semi-detached house next door is so overgrown it blocks the light to his garden and the situation is now affecting his health.
He also claims there have been issues with rats that he has seen coming into his garden.
The 82-year-old is now worried he won't be able to sell his home after an estate agent told him the state of the garden would knock at least £20,000 of the value of his house.
Retired RAF musician Fred Sweenie says his life has become a living nightmare because a neighbouring garden has grown wildly out of control. Pictured: Fred with wife Janet in their garden
Mr Sweenie says the semi-detached house next door is so overgrown it blocks the light to his garden and the situation is now affecting his health
Mr Sweenie served 12 years in the RAF Central band, playing at major Royal events, including at Buckingham Palace garden parties attended by the Queen and at the Cenotaph. He has also toured with former Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman.
He feels his country is 'letting me down' and wants something to be done, saying there have been issues he has had to put up with for 12 years.
The 82-year-old lives at his property with his 69-year-old wife Janet and their 36-year-old son Guy and says he have not seen anyone at the house for the last 15 years.
The family have been complaining to the Lichfield District Council about the garden for 12 years.
He said: 'Every time we try to do something it gets blocked. We don't know why. We first moved into the property in Rugeley Road in 1982.
The 82-year-old is now worried he won't be able to sell his home after an estate agent told him the state of the garden would knock at least £20,000 of the value of his house
'At the time, next door was well kept and well maintained. This really started to go wrong around 20 years ago. There was a serious neglect of the garden. It looked like there was no money being spent on repairs at the house.
'The last time we saw someone at the property was around 15 years ago. Our first complaint was around 12 years ago. It came about after we heard a humming noise coming from next door. We enquired and it turned out the wiring was archaic which led us to be worried about a possible fire hazard.
'I explained to the person from the council that no-one had been living there and the house was unoccupied.'
Mr Sweenie said that things became so bad that he eventually contacted MP for Lichfield Michael Fabricant.
Mr Sweenie said: 'By 2017, the garden next door was having a serious impact on our health and wellbeing. Rats had started to appear in our garden and we could see the holes where they were coming in. We reported it to environmental health. No response there.
The family have been complaining to the Lichfield District Council about the garden for 12 years
'So we went to Mr Fabricant who was fantastic. He wrote numerous times to the council requesting a full investigation into the property.
'When they did undergo a full investigation, they said that the property was occupied and that, apart from one shed that was full of food waste that had to be knocked down, there was no need to do anything else. When they told me that, it felt like someone was stabbing me in the chest.
'It made me very ill and we dropped the inquiries in
