9:20am Tuesday 16th March 2010
By Robert Fisk
A PIECE of string proved to be the “straw that broke the camel’s back” for a street improvement works victim.
Bromley Council contractors had been working outside Pinar Wheeler’s house in Charterhouse Road, Orpington, redoing the pavement by laying bricks.
But when they finished working for the day they did not remove the string they had put up to make sure the pavement was level.
Mrs Wheeler was on the way out of her house to pick up a prescription when she tripped over the string.
The teaching assistant said: “It was an absolute death trap.
“When I had to step on the aggregate stones I caught the string with my left leg and I came crashing down and I put my hand out on the crash barrier.
“I was shaking from head to foot.”
She added: “Anybody who came up the path was at risk of crashing their skull on the front of the path.
“I think it is just ridiculous the way they do not take pedestrian safety into any consideration.”
But the 51-year-old says her problems began when council contractors started working in the road last September.
During works to build a mini roundabout she says the only way to get into her house was by clambering over a 2ft brick wall to avoid getting stuck in wet cement.
And at the start of her pavement works the teaching assistant could not put her bins out outside her home because the area was cordoned off with barriers.
Mrs Wheeler said: “The final straw when I fell over was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The mother-of-two was visited by representatives from the contractor Conway shortly after the incident to talk about what happened.
A Bromley Council spokesman said: “Safety matters are obviously important and whilst we apologise for any inconvenience caused, this was an isolated incident which is being investigated to see if there are things that we can learn.”
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