If A Jobs Worth Doing.....

[Dougie Do'ins]

Mum's fury after council WIPES OUT front garden to install £40k disabled ramp for daughter

 

After all, it was the council which had housed her in a home at the top of three flights of steps.

But what she didn’t reckon on was how the council would complete the job.

Officials eventually relented, but Clare, 33, was left shocked by their solution - a £40,000, 10-level chicane-like steel ramp which almost fills their front garden.

The eyesore 'slalem-style' ramp winds its way over 60 metres and is proving a long way round for Clare and Katie.

 

And to cap it all, local youths have hijacked it as a skateboard run.

Katie, seven, suffers from bulbar palsy - caused by complications after she and twin Holly were born prematurely - and has to use a wheelchair.

Today, mum Clare said: “There must have been a better solution. The council could have gone about the whole project in a more sensible way.

"We had to move to the house to get easier access for Katie and we have fought all these months to get that.

"The council said this was the only option to fit something into the garden because of building regulations.

 

"It is a lot easier but I don't believe that the council weren't able to do something else.

"We weren't fighting for a massive steel ramp - we just wanted to improve Katie's quality of life.

"What they have built is something which I would never have expected a local council to do. We have to open our blinds and look at it every day." 

West Dunbartonshire Council have not yet completed the final costings of the ramp at the home in Clydebank, near Glasgow, but it is estimated to be around £40,000.

The ramp is so big that Clare cannot see the bottom of it from her front window.

The family's problems have been further compounded by youths who are using it as a skateboard run.

But council officials have refused to install a gate, citing health and safety concerns.

Clare, who shares the home with partner Derek Steel, added: "We have waited so long for access and now we have got it.

 

"But we need to have a gate at the bottom. A lot of youths have started using it because they think it is fun to play on it.

"The council have said they can't give us a gate because it would block the public footpath. Is that the case for everybody else with a gate which swings outward? 

"I don't care how the gate opens. I just want one put up." 

A spokesman for West Dunbartonshire Council said that the family had indicated they could manage the steps at the property.

He said: "This proved not to be the case. As they were existing tenants, it was the council's duty to make the necessary adaptations.

"This led to the installation of the wheelchair ramp as requested by the family." 

 

 

 

 

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/459535/Mum-s-fury-after-council-WIPES-OUT-front-garden-to-install-40k-disabled-ramp-for-daughter?fb_action_ids=10153779278400702&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=

[Bjornebye]

fucking dickheads 

[littletedwest]

some people will moan about anything

[BCM]

Ha Ha Ha Ha That picture is fucking piss funny and bang out of order at the same time.

[Acid]

Funny how in this article too, it mentions the local youths hijacking it as a skateboard ramp, yet in the photos the express have published, and the 4000 photos Mail Online throws into it's articles, there isn't a youth to be found. Not one with a skateboard anyway.

 

I'd also ask why she chose to wait until the job was finished before querying it and bring it up with a paper.

 

And I'd like to laugh.

[Trumo]

They could have put in a disability platform beside the steps instead. It would have meant excavating some of the front garden to make room as well as building a larger stepping to line up with the bottom of the front door, but it would have been far less drastic and I'm sure it would have cost a damn site less. The property could still have had a front gate too.

 

My grandad has what I've described above at his house. His house is an old Edwardian property which had 2 steps leading to the front door, where you then climbed one more step to go in. The house had a small front garden with a gate. The work involved putting in a platform that is controlled by a switch for which you need a key, and this is connected to a 3-step metal staircase that folds flat as the platform goes up. A new longer level was built to line up with the bottom of the front door. The whole thing meant the gate had to be removed as it would no longer open inwards, and they cannot have an outward-opening gate. The houses are deemed to be in a conservation area because there is a park opposite, so even things like the windows and the colour of the woodwork need to be pre-approved. As a result, the front windows are not doubled glazed and the upstairs one are sash windows, but the rest of the house is double glazed. All in all, it doesn't look all that different to how it did before the work was carried out.

[Alan Sex]

What fucking jobsworth has a mate in the metal ramp trade?

[stringvest]

The council have been found guilty of being brainless twats.  They've also asked for 400 other fences to be taken into consideration.

[Dougie Do'ins]

It looks like a fucking queuing system at Alton Towers.

[Kant]

I wonder if you started queuing at the door how many knobheads would join in

[Strontium]

You just can't get the free shit these days

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Looks like Alton Towers. I bet that house is haunted.

[stringvest]

Never mind Alton Towers.  It looks like Mouse Trap.  If the poor cow manages to get up that ramp, she knocks on the door and a cage drops on her head.

[Trumo]

I wonder if you started queuing at the door how many knobheads would join in

 

Is exactly what I wanted to post!

[Section_31]

That's class.

[General Dryness]

It looks like a fucking queuing system at Alton Towers.

 

She's sorted if she ever goes on the game.

[ZonkoVille77]

Holy fuck that's some piece of work.

[RedKnight]

I don't understand why they didn't stop them building it when it was obvious it was going to look like the race track at Monaco.

[Dr Nowt]

Bring your shopping trolley right up to the front door then ride it all the way back down.  Hours of fun.

[VladimirIlyich]

If Dumbarton ever hosts the Winter Olympics they already have a downhill slalom ready made and 40k is cheap at twice the price.

[Trumo]

I wonder when the postman stopped giving a fuck.

[RedKnight]

This could be a new category: Sarcastic building work.

[robslappa]

It must be a 20 minute drive from the street to the front door.

[Liverpool lad]

Can't see the problem myself

[G Richards]

That is astonishing, appalling and impressive in equal measure.