THE Environment Agency says it may have to force officials at church allotments in Ilminster to remove a row of empty chemical canisters after allegations that gardeners have been poisoned.

Allotment holders have been complaining about dizziness, fatigue and other ailments ever since a batch of industrial-size styrene canisters appeared on the Old Road site some time last year.

The connection between the two was only mooted last Friday after keen gardener Mike Wigmore, of Cudworth, got chatting to a fellow gardener at the allotments.

Experts views: see the News today (January 18)