‘Worst pavement’ is ignored for months

Eight stitches – Ashley Martin-Octave Eight stitches – Ashley Martin-Octave

A MUM feared someone would get hurt because of the dangerous state of pavements outside her home, but she did not expect it to be her son.

Lyndsey Martin’s six-year-old son, Ashley Martin-Octave, needed eight stitches in his eyebrow after flying over the handlebars of his scooter, in Third Walk, Canvey .

The wheel got stuck in one of the broken parts of the pavement and his face smashed into the ground.

Miss Martin said: “It was like someone had been murdered. I’ve never seen so much blood in my life. It was horrible.”

She and her neighbours say they have been complaining to Castle Point Council about the pavements in the road for about 20 months.

Miss Martin claims inspectors have carried out three visits and told her it is an “urgent” case and they are the “worst pavements they have seen”, but still nothing has been done.

She said: “It’s gradually getting worse.

“I keep phoning and phoning, yet they’re still not rushing to fix it.

“It should have been done on September 10, but I’ve been told the council is waiting to find out how much it’s going to cost.

“It shouldn’t be about that. Is it going to wait until someone smashes their head and it’s fatal? Because that’s how bad it is.

“Something needs to be done.”

Miss Martin’s son is not the first person to come a cropper on a pavement on Canvey.

Pauline Browne, 77, tripped on a ridge in the pavement on Canvey High Street on September 20, and last month Jackie Shiraishi, 68, from West Yorkshire, had been enjoying her summer holiday in Runnymede, until she fell on an uneven pavement in Westwood Road and broke her nose.

Castle Point Council was unavailable for comment.

Comments(10)

v.randy says...
10:29am Sat 29 Sep 12

Killer pavement...on Canvey Is....shocking.
Perfect storyline for Dr Who

bignosechaff says...
10:38am Sat 29 Sep 12

Your lucky to have a pavement. When I was a lad we had unmade roads littered with holes and bumps and we lived in shoe box in middle of road.

v.randy says...
11:07am Sat 29 Sep 12

bignosechaff wrote:
Your lucky to have a pavement. When I was a lad we had unmade roads littered with holes and bumps and we lived in shoe box in middle of road.
'shoe box in middle of road' thats luxury that is!!!

mudslinger says...
11:15am Sat 29 Sep 12

I wonder if anybody has bothered to report it to the HSE.
I'm sure they can force the hand of our inept council.

meanwhile their repair bill is being added to by injury claim payouts.

there are other dangerous stretches of pavements all over castle point, they are being ignored.

jolllyboy says...
3:50pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Not surprised. They go around putting orange paint on the worst which gets rubbed off in time and the pavements do not get done. In my road they are so bad that when it rains it creates a puddle that everyone has to wade through. I have to say I dont bother telling them any more.

HBroom says...
7:39am Sun 30 Sep 12

Whilst I have every sympathy for her six year old son, if she knew the pavement was in a poor state of repair and dangerous, what is she doing letting her son ride his scooter on it? Maybe a bit of common sense and a little chat with her son along the lines of "Don't ride your scooter on the damaged pavement outside our house" may have done the trick.

whataday says...
3:06pm Sun 30 Sep 12

same experiencde as jollyboy Waste of time Keep writing to Council but they just give loads of case numbers and still nothing gets done. At least keep copies of your communications then if you are unfortunate enough to suffer injury through their negligence you have the proof you need that they were negligent

boom says...
10:04pm Sun 30 Sep 12

HBroom wrote:
Whilst I have every sympathy for her six year old son, if she knew the pavement was in a poor state of repair and dangerous, what is she doing letting her son ride his scooter on it? Maybe a bit of common sense and a little chat with her son along the lines of "Don't ride your scooter on the damaged pavement outside our house" may have done the trick.
Exactly what I thought. But that would require some common sense and personal responsibility

UKGovnor says...
9:59am Mon 1 Oct 12

bignosechaff wrote:
Your lucky to have a pavement. When I was a lad we had unmade roads littered with holes and bumps and we lived in shoe box in middle of road.
Cor, you were rich. We lived in a paper bag and didn't have a road, only a cinder track

iluvbette says...
1:05pm Mon 1 Oct 12

single parent, compensation. mmmmm makes me wonder!

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