Barry Stamps Political Diary

It’s surprising what some people ignore! Yesterday I had a telephone call from a resident in Haughton who was concerned that his son had nearly ridden his bicycle into an open road drain in Dale Lane. He was concerned that as the drain was a couple of foot in from the edge of this very narrow road it could cause a major accident.

As it was late on a Saturday afternoon, and also during a bank holiday weekend, I knew that it would be impossible to use the normal route of reporting the problem to the County Council. However I did have the out of hours emergency number, but before I made the call I thought I’d better pop down to Dale Lane to have a look ant the problem and make sure I knew exactly where the drain was. Imagine my surprise as when I drove down the lane I could see a wooden post with a plastic bag on top poking out of the open drain to warn motorists of the danger. I soon found out how this had happened as a few yards further on I meet another couple from the Village who explained they had borrowed the post and bag from a nearby farm. However they also discovered the drain top had been missing for a couple of days during which time dozens of cars must have driven past the spot.

After I called the out of hours number the County Council’s Highways on-call team came straight out and although they were unable to replaced the missing grid they errected a proper barrier around the hole with plenty of road signs to warn road users about the danger. They now have to return after the bank holiday, dig up the road, and install a new grid and mounting frame.

The person manning the County Council's out of hours emergemcy line told me that more and more drain tops were being stolen as the price of scrap metal continues to climb. He also confirmed no one else had reported the hole despite the real danger it posed to anyone using the road!