Call for action over road surface repair problems
A FED-UP motorist is demanding action over the sorry state of a stretch of road in Sutherland.
Phillip Gane, of Ardmore Lodge, Station Road, Edderton, says he returns home from his daily work commute between his home village and Alness with the bodywork of his car spattered with tar.
And he points out that with 1.5 litre bottles of tar remover priced at £6.50, it’s costing him a fortune, along with hours of effort to remove it.
Mr Gane, a business broadband specialist with BT, has narrowed the problem area down to a one-mile stretch of the A836 Edderton to Tain road at Seafield.
He maintains that tar, supplied by West Sussex based firm Colas Ltd, and spread on the route last year by Highland Council, has failed to harden.
"The road is shedding its top layer of chips and the underlying soft tar is being sprayed onto car paint work as cars drive over it," he explained.
"The Seafield stretch of the road has big patches where the road is now devoid of stones and is just big bare tar pools.
"It has now become dangerous in wet or icy weather conditions. As you go round the bends you feel yourself slipping and losing grip.
"While this is bad enough, meeting 35-ton fully-loaded wood lorries tramping around the bend in the opposite direction can cause some heart-stopping moments."
Mr Gane recently lodged a complaint with Transport, Environmental and Community Services (TECS) at the council’s North Highland area headquarters at Drummuie, outside Golspie.
He claims to have been told that other motorists across the North have also reported experiencing similar problems on different stretches of road.
"It now transpires that £26,000 worth of tar supplied by Colas Ltd and spread on different roads at around the same time is faulty and has not hardened," he alleged.
Mr Gane has criticised the council for apparently having no plan of action to address the situation.
He asks: "When are we going to see some action? And who is going to pay for all the remedial work, not just for Edderton but for all the other roads?"
A Highland Council spokesperson said: "We are aware of apparent problems with some of the 2011 surface dressing sites where the stone chips are stripping from the road surface and the binding bitumen appears to be softening.
"The surface dressing process is always susceptible to a number of factors and, when problems occur, it can be as a result of problems with the chips, the bitumen or other external factors, including climate/weather conditions both at time of application and immediately afterwards.
"Investigations into the current problems began as soon as we became aware of the problem. Samples of the bitumen taken at the time of laying did not show any deviation from the specification.
"More samples have been taken from the affected road surfaces and sent to our laboratories for analysis and when the results come back we will work with our suppliers to find a solution.
"As is always the case, the council will investigate the financial implications of the problems.
"Where there is a proven failure of a process or product the council will take appropriate action to recover costs in accordance with the conditions of the supply contract."
A spokesperson for Colas Ltd said: "We confirm that Colas supplied the binder to Highland Council in 2011 for them to carry out their surface dressing programme in Sutherland.
"We have been alerted to the issue and are currently working hard with representatives of the council to investigate the situation."
