Trapped Renfrew pensioner's fury over lack of grit

Jan 11 2010

A DISABLED pensioner who has been trapped in her own home since before Christmas has slammed council chiefs for not doing enough to keep roads and pavements clear of ice.

Fiona Newman, 64, can normally get out and about in a wheelchair but snow and ice which have blanketed her street in Moorpark, Renfrew, for weeks have made it impossible for her to negotiate the pavements.

The fed-up OAP told the Paisley Daily Express: There has been no gritting of my road at all and its not very pleasant not being able to get out.

Why didnt the council stockpile more grit? It seems they never have money for the things that people really need.

My message to them is Get your finger out and get the roads gritted.

Fionas neighbour, Linda Callaghan, has also been left fuming about the lack of grit on roads.

Our street has been like an ice rink, said 61-year-old Linda.
 
Ive found it difficult to get about because there has been no grit put down.

I think the council should have been better prepared for the weather.

Pensioners in other parts of Renfrewshire have also complained they have been left to live like prisoners in their own homes because the roads and pavements have been unsafe.

An 82-year-old woman who lives in Netherhill Way, Gallowhill, Paisley, has told how she hasnt been able to set foot outside her home in three weeks because of the big ch i l l .

The OAP uses a four-wheel walking frame to help her get around but has been too scared to walk on the icy paths outside her home.

She also claims that rubbish has been left to pile up in her street because binmen havent been round to collect it for more than two weeks.

The pensioner, who asked not to be named, added: I normally use the Dial-A-Bus service once a week to go to the Piazza shopping centre in Paisley but Ive cancelled it for the last two weeks because Ive been too scared to
go outside.

I havent been out of my house in more than three weeks and Im running out of s u p p l i e s.

There hasnt been any grit down here and its very treacherous for the older folk in Gallowhill.

Also, I phoned the councils refuse advice line about the piles of rubbish and was on for 15 minutes before I got cut off.

Whats the point in giving out a number if they dont answer the calls?

Council chiefs said they have had to concentrate on gritting main routes rather than pavements during the big f r e e z e.

They also insist their salt barn in Paisleys Scotts Road was at capacity before the cold snap began but there has been problems with gritting roads and pavements because suppliers have since failed to deliver enough salt.

A council spokesman said: Before the cold weather started, we had stockpiled 4,000 tonnes of salt. This is the maximum amount of salt we can store and our salt dome was full to the roof.

It needs to be recognised that we are facing the worst winter in 30 years and the whole country is facing p r o b l e m s.

In the past three weeks, we have used two-thirds of the salt we would normally use over the whole winter. We anticipated we would need significant new supplies and we ordered a further 3,000

tonnes of salt before Christmas but we have only received around one-third of what we ordered.

We have had to treat main routes twice a day, every day, because of the extreme temperatures. This intensive effort means we havent been able to make inroads into residential areas.

Like many other councils across Scotland, we are having to concentrate our resources on keeping the main routes clear. This is vital to ensure access for emergency services and deliveries of food and

fuel.

Extensive measures have been put in place to address the problems local residents face. These measures include ordering thousands of tonnes of grit and redeploying staff

into priority teams to treat pavements where possible.