A war memorial and flowers opposite a pub have been damaged by diversion signs and lorries navigating road closures.

Landlady Lesley Richards, who runs The Maypole Inn in Borden with her husband Kevin, says she is “absolutely gutted” after discovering the Tommy statue commemorating VE Day had been damaged for a fifth time.

Mrs Richards has tended to the grass intersection – between Wises Lane and The Street – since the 75th anniversary of VE Day during the 2020 lockdown.

The mother-of-four has shared her upset over the repeated damage to the Tommy statue and plants, which have been crushed.

The 63-year-old, who has run the pub for more than 17 years, said: “I was going to the triangle to plant some pansies in for June 6th D-Day celebrations and I was absolutely gutted when I saw the tribute had been crushed.”

The small green has been a source of pride for the community during Remembrance commemorations, but the landlady says she won’t be repairing the tribute this time around, after “diversion signs were dumped on top of it”.

Mrs Richards had created a handwritten sign addressed to Kent Highways and others which says: “Please respect my tribute space – with thanks from ‘Tommy’ and friends, including birds, bees and butterflies”.

Despite this, the landlady says this is the fifth time damage has been done.

The Borden community funded the Tommy statue – which serves as a permanent reminder of the nation’s fallen soldiers – to sit next to the village sign. Mrs Richards says it has been broken and mended several times.

“He has been strapped to the lamppost now, so he hopefully won’t get knocked down anymore,” she added.

Lorries and buses have been trying to navigate diversions on Wises Lane and Bannister Hill, with another road closure planned for Wises Lane from March 18 until the June 30, which will see a continued diversion via the intersection on The Street past The Maypole pub.

Mrs Richards said: “Lorries don’t know what they are doing, and it is such a tight squeeze to turn around they’re just going over the triangle because they don’t care, they just want to get back to where they should be going.

“The lorries are trying to get to Wises Lane where they’ve got the development and they just can’t get down there because it’s closed again, they just keep closing it at will and it’s a nightmare.

“Because there are so many large lorries trying to get past the diversions, something has reversed right over it and completely wrecked the whole thing.”

During the last roadworks, Mrs Richards said diversion signs were put in the centre of the triangle on top of all the flowers.

She added: “I have spent hundreds of pounds on plants, and they have just completely wrecked it.”

Mrs Richards says the wooden frames which support the flowers are “completely wrecked and splintered.”

She added: “I would like it to be mended and for people to stop going over it with their lorries.”

The Royal British Legion will be marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day with events in the UK and Normandy on June 5 and 6.