Bus shelter outside house causing a misery

11:13am Monday 8th September 2008

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THE family of an elderly woman say a bus shelter placed outside her home is making her life a misery.

But they claim Transport for London (TfL) which put up the shelter, has turned a deaf ear to their appeals to remove it from outside her home.

Irene Dunster, 75, who was widowed last year, lives on the corner of Hook Lane and The Green, Welling, and for the past 10 years, there has been a bus shelter outside her home.

But over the past two years, the shelter has become a focus for young people in the area, who gather outside Mrs Dunster's home.

Her son-in-law Anthony Oliva said Mrs Dunster's garden fence has been smashed down several times; her property has been graffitied; the youths throw rubbish into her garden and they have even gone right up to the house to bang on her front windows.

Mr Oliva, 39, a record company director, said: "She is so distressed by what is going on, she won't even come to us for lunch anymore, in case anything happens to the house while she is away."

The family has enlisted the support of the neighbourhood policing team and local councillor Peter Catterall, in their attempts to get the shelter moved, but TfL is refusing to budge.

Mr Oliva said: "There are some local people who would like the shelter to remain, but are not prepared to have it outside their own homes."

In response to the complaints, TfL took the seats out of the bus shelter, but the problem still remains.

A spokesman for TfL said: "We have already listened to Mrs Dunster's concerns and taken steps to address them.

"We have already moved the seats from the bus shelter to discourage people from loitering there, and we propose to turn the bus shelter round to face the road, making it much more open to public view."

In fact workmen arrived last week, to disconnect the electricity supply to the shelter so that it can be turned around.

But Mr Oliva said: "TfL is now going to put the shelter right next to her fence, and it claims anti-climb paint will stop youths from climbing onto its roof and getting into the garden."

The family is now considering an injunction to stop the work from going ahead.