Anger as unfinished roadworks cause Spittal woman agonising cuts

Dec 19 2012 by Kenny Smith, Rutherglen Reformer

A Spittal woman has hit out at South Lanarkshire Council for not properly signposting roadworks which have been on hold for several weeks.

Catherine McElhinney (60), of Kirkconnell Drive, was walking along a poorly-lit section of Alloway Crescent last Tuesday night when she lost her footing after stepping out from one half of the road into the other, where the roadworks had been taking place.

As the road was deeper than she expected, she lost her footing and fell flat on her face, causing it to be badly scratched and cut.

She is now calling on the council to get the roadworks finished - and signpost them better - before someone else suffers like she has.

Catherine said: “I was out the other night, and I fell really badly on the roadworks that are there, as they are so badly signed. They had been putting tar down the middle of the road, but they’ve only done one side.

“The area is so badly lit that I stepped off and fell - it really isn’t signposted properly.

“I fell and cut my face, and there was blood dripping down. Some of the neighbours came out to help me, and said they had been complaining about it for two weeks.

“I knew the work had been going on for a couple of months, but I hadn’t been down that way in a while. The lady who helped me took me into her house, and said they’d heard the work had been stopped because the workmen were needed elsewhere to put grit down.

“She wanted me to go to the hospital to get it checked out, but I just wanted to get up the road and go to my bed. My boyfriend came and got me.

“When I got home, I had to clean it out really thoroughly with soap and water, and it really hurt. There were so many little stones in there and I had to get them all out, which took a couple of hours.

“All the neighbours are pretty angry about the state of the street, and they’ve got to do something about this.”

A spokesperson for South Lanarkshire Council confirmed they were looking into the matter, and that work had been put on hold because of the recent poor weather.

They said: “The council is undertaking improvements on Alloway Crescent, however, these works have been suspended for most of the last fortnight due to low temperatures and the need for our workforce to focus on winter gritting activity.

“We understand the site was left in a safe condition but given this reported accident we will arrange for the site to be inspected and any additional safety measures which are required will be implemented.”