LOVING son Shawn Sullivan was in a right blooming temper when he discovered the beautiful bouquet he sent his elderly mum in Crickhowell for Mother's Day was a battered box of soil reports PAUL JAMES.

Shawn is furious that his thoughtful gesture left him with mud on his face, thanks to the bungling floral department at Waitrose.

He blasted the company with a vitriolic verbal volley, telling them: 'You have totally ruined her day - and mine.'

Shawn thundered: 'I cannot even guess at the stupidity of whoever prepares these baskets. It was such an insensitive thing.'

Insult was added to injury when Waitrose tried to make amends by offering some vouchers to his 83-year-old mum who lives at Dan-y-Grug.

'I wanted to give her flowers - not vouchers,' spat Shawn who works as an admin director in Spain for an architecture and design company.

In his formal complaint to Waitrose he revealed, 'I have just rung my mother to wish her happy Mother's Day.

'She was not very forthcoming on the phone as she did not mention the flowers until I pressed her to tell me if she liked them.

'She then told me she received a battered cardboard box with only soil inside - and no flowers. But not to worry, as she knew I meant well.'

He added: 'How dare one of your staff have the audacity to deliver to an 83-year-old woman a box of soil for Mother's Day.

'We picked Waitrose as a trusted supplier and a company we were sure would not let us down.

"I am absolutely furious that what she received was a battered cardboard box with a basket inside that contained only soil - not one solitary flower. I feel angry and cheated.'

'To make things worse, when the box was opened the soil tipped out all over the floor.'

Shawn said from Spain on Tuesday: 'I am disgusted.'

A spokeswoman for Waitrose conceded that the company had received a 'handful of complaints' about their service on the special day.

She said: 'We are very apologetic to Mr Sullivan and his mother for the poor standard of service they received from us.

'The product delivered was simply unacceptable and we sincerely apologise.

'We will be looking into this matter and taking action to ensure it does not happen again.

"We have fully refunded Mr Sullivan and delivered flowers to his mother in addition to the gesture of goodwill.'