A visually-impaired Malvern man is backing a campaign to highlight the dangers of overgrown hedges.

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (GDBA) is appealing to local authorities and homeowners to trim hedges overhanging pavements because of the risk to blind and partially-sighted people.

This follows a spate of accidents nationally which have resulted in serious injury.

Chris Lewis, of Cowleigh Road, Malvern, said overhanging foliage was a big problem for visually-impaired people.

"I'm a fair height, 5ft10in, and I get branches hitting me in the face," he said.

"There are parts of Malvern that are bad, such as Worcester Road on the right side up to Link Top."

Mr Lewis walks his guide dog Mack every morning and, although he has never sustained any serious injury from walking into things, he said it could easily happen.

"It gives you a shock and if it was something like holly it could be very nasty," he said. "It's also quite embarrassing.

"I'd ask hedge-owners to trim them back to the top of the wall. Very often I walk on the inside of the path and you catch it."

The appeal from GDBA is part of a broader campaign called 2001 - A Space Oddity, which aims to highlight the difficulty blind and partially-sighted people encounter as a result of thoughtless design.

Chief executive Geraldine Peacock said: "Overgrown hedges can be a particular problem to guide dog owners.

"Branches might be high enough to avoid obstructing the dog but could quite easily scrape the visually-impaired owner's arm, neck or face, potentially causing serious injury."