#1
Today i have just rang highways and requested that my local paths get treated as it is a death trap after all Aycliffe got treated as well as Hillside today yet im housebound 8 months pregnant and cant get to my important hospital that tests i have to have due to a serious condition i have , i pay my council tax its about time they started helping out im sorry if i fall I WILL SUE they have been warned .......
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#2
I am also housebound at the moment the same as a lot of others who have walking problems and dare not even try the treacherous Dover pavements and side streets. I might even have to get a taxi tomorrow if I have to go to the shop.
I am fairly certain you will only be able to sue if the pavements are cleared inadequately not if they are left alone and I am sure you will can get another appointment if your visit is that important.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#3
that is correct about the legal implications, the same applies to householders as to the council.
could be that if you did get there the consultant would be snowed in mel.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
#4
mel,aycliffe not as clear as you think it is,most of the paths and some side roads still iced up and dangerous.what paths that are clear have been done so by residents.
ps.the bus shelter side of pencester road that was iced up yesterday has been partly cleared and grited.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
#5
AS much as we would like them all to be clear, KCC have 5000 miles of roads and 4000 miles of pavements, so would be an impossible task to do them all.
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#6
Thank you Paul for pointing that out.
I do think though that bus routes should have a higher priority - if buses can't go along those routes, it will either force people out on to dangerous pavemments, or keep people housebound until the buses can get along them.
Roger
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
#7
Roger, the day after the snow came down, it did not freeze. The snow was easy to clear away, as I did some clearance works for relatives and neighbours with a shovel.
The day after that, on the pavements of Dover it was still slushy, and easy to clear away.
Had the authorities organised volunteers to clear the pavements, supplying them each with a snow-shovel, the pavements would have been clear 2 days ago. It would have meant giving some willing unemployed people some extra money in return for 8 hours work.
Instead, "we haven't got any money for such massive enterprises", so we just let the snow turn to ice and sat there wathching people slip on there backside.
Now the compact ice would be 50 times harder to clear away than when it was just slushy snow.
You no doubt know why I did not vote at the last Council elections!
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
#8
I might add that even I was on the verge of slipping over while walking through the Town centre yesterday, and elsewhere 3 days ago, on treacherous thin ice. So how much more dangerous is it for elderly people who risk breaking a bone if they slipped over?
Guest 703- Registered: 30 Jul 2010
- Posts: 2,096
#9
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#10
the government advice(whilst useful) is deliberately vague on the subject of what is liitigious.
this government and the last one waffle on about common sense which is totally useless when an ambulance chasing solicitor or personal injury claim company get to work.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#11
Very good point Howard.
I know somebody who is waiting to receive about £8,000 (might even have it now) for a simple fractured wrist. Well worth suing the supermarket to receive that amount, not in Dover I hasten to add.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
#12
True Jan, I have known of many people that have claimed from slipping in shops etc. However as the above article states there are still no actual cases of this happening for snow clearance.
The story is yet another example of the the feedback loop that can created by the likes of the Daily Mail and local authorities where no one has the conviction to give measured answers.
It has to be said I know of a few workers at DDC that read the Mail, which is even more dangerous.
The fact of the matter, no one has sued! They could, but haven't...why? People 'actually' do get knocked over by buses, so perhaps we should stop crossing roads as this is far more likely?
The Daily Mail and other such brainless papers now trade not only on making people scared of things that do happen to people eg: stabbing, terrorist attacks, living next door to sex offenders, but the also make people worry about things that haven't actually happened...but could!
I have some more ideas for Richard Little John and friends of 'things that could happen':
Aliens COULD land and set up faith schools. Only teaching the beliefs of their planet and anyone not adhering to these ideas COULD be executed by prolonged laser eye surgery.
Babies COULD start their own factories and create royal memorabilia china with dreadful spelling mistake on it, resulting in world humiliation.
The Mail readership could take over the country and place leadership in the hands of Richard Little John, because he speaks so much sense to us all. (I realise this one is just plain stupid and could never really happen)
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
#13
"Had the authorities organised volunteers to clear the pavements, supplying them each with a snow-shovel, the pavements would have been clear 2 days ago"
What do you expect them to do with it !!!!
Good luck if you think the council can get volunteers, as even as a group that has volunteers we struggle to get more than a dozen each month......
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
#14
Paul, what I expect someone to do with a snow shovel? To have cleared their designated section of pavements when the snow was fresh and still hadn't turned into ice.
I'd also expect these people to be paid, say £10 an hour, for a job that, here in Kent, might be a one-off occasion each year. Two people can clear fresh snow away from quite a few pavements in the course of 8 hours.
So 50 people in Dover could have done the job in one day. Times 50 by £80, that's £4,000.
A young unemployed person could well do with £80 for a day's work.
But if one person falls and fractures a wrist, and sues for £8,000, that is rocket science, it works out "healthier" for the person who slipped and fractured a wrist, "cheaper", especially if many people slip and break a bone, and in particular "cheaper" for the NHS.
Well done, Paul, and also to the councillors, for sheer common sense in rocket science.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#15
just to clarify about bus routes, the 68 bus maxton to temple ewell is only able to cover the main roads on the route meaning it picks up very few passengers as there are so many other buses.
none of the minor roads on the route in maxton, temple ewell or clarendon place have been gritted.
here comes the rub, we know that kcc are responsible for the gritting, they also subsidise this route.
Guest 736- Registered: 5 Jan 2012
- Posts: 118
#16
I remember years ago living with my mum that each house would clear there part of the path religiously every year . then what would happen is the house would actually join with next doors cleared pathway . If there was a elderly person you would always do there's as well.
Getting onto the gritting side of things , how's this they gritted a path up here which is very nice but its the side that only runs for about 100m then runs out. But the funniest thing is that path NO ONE ever uses!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The longer path which is on quite a decline towards the road and on a weird angle they left!! Still hats off to them at least they have gritted up here on the roads at least. We have lived up here for 12yrs and this is the first time that we have ever had a gritter up here.
#17
End of day places have been cleared , i rang yesterday as i have to get hospital for SERIOUS tests im 8 months pregnant. I fall over and end up in hospital i will sue no worries about that. Im sorry no excuses to be had . Also my children from where we live are walking on the roads as they are far more safer to get to school again why do i pay my taxes???????? its one big joke and shows how lame highways are.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
#18
mel,are you getting stir crazy by being stuck indoors.
#19
What do you think??? im more worried i missed a important test other day cant afford to miss any more as affects me and bubba ................
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#20
Howard's post 15 is quite pertinent as it shows that if roads that are bus-routes were gritted/salted, then more passengers could/would be able to use them and more income generated for the bus companies.
And of course be much better for residents /bus users.
Roger