LEAVES on the line has long been the laughable excuse used by rail companies to explain away late running services.

Network Rail is now using it as an excuse for chopping down dozens of hawthorn trees on a Yarnbrook embankment and leaving local residents exposed to the railway track. Brian Gordon, 48, of Hawkeridge Road, was horrified to find the 20ft trees, which used to block out the sound and sight of passing trains and housed a variety of wildlife, had vanished on Thursday afternoon.

Rather than the view of white and pink hawthorn trees he and his wife used to have, all they can now see is the bare track with an ugly pylon in the background. Residents were told work would be done on the embankment but assumed this would just involve pruning.

Mr Gordon said: "We didn't think they'd actually take the lot. It was just carnage. "We've been living here for two-and-a-half years and the trains have never been a problem, we didn't hear them because they acted as a kind of buffer zone."

Mr Gordon, who works as a civil engineer and has built numerous concrete retaining walls to protect embankments, said his major concern was that the removal of the trees could lead to a landslide in the future.

"Once the roots have rotted away, surely the banks will slip. In the Philippines hundreds of people were killed after a landslide. "We obviously wouldn't have the same scale disaster here but I wouldn't want a 125 in my front garden," he said.

His wife Norma said she was devastated that since the trees were removed most of the wildlife had also gone. "For me it's the loss of wildlife that's the worst. Just the other day I watched three hawks flying around and swooping in to catch smaller wildlife. It was amazing but there will be no more birds of prey now. I cried when I first saw it. A lot of people are very upset and are absolutely mortified."

Next-door neighbour Mary Elliott, who has lived on the edge of the embankment for 43 years, agreed the decision to cut down the trees was heartbreaking.

"I couldn't believe it. This time of year the birds are starting to nest. It looks awful now and it's so silent. The area used to be beautiful, especially in May but it's just so bare now," she said.

Mr Gordon has tried to contact Network Rail but said all they would say was the trees were removed because of the danger of leaves on the line.

A spokesman for Network Rail told the Wiltshire Times: "On occasions where an area next to the track has become particularly overgrown we need to remove vegetation for the safety of rail passengers and our staff.

"For example, leaves falling onto the tracks can cause slippage for trains, signals can be blocked from the sight of train drivers and workers on or near the track can also become obscured by branches. "Before any work takes place, we liaise with the local authority about our plans and an environmental and conservation expert makes sure any work we do has minimal impact on local wildlife."