Couple 'marooned' by wet tarmac outside home

A former town mayor and his wife have complained about being marooned by a wet tarmac patch outside their Tavistock home.

Steve and Cathy Hipsey were unable to get into their home without making their own makeshift path with a piece of wood to cross the still sticky repair patch at the entrance to their driveway.

They say they and their neighbours on Redmoor Close and the adjacent road – The Dell – were not given adequate advance warning of the work. Only one sign was erected on the day itself and there were also no signs warning of the wet tar patches.

The couple almost got wet tar on their shoes, but noticed at the last minute and drew back. The contractors carrying out the work then, ironically, offered them a yellow works advance warning sign as a ‘bridge’ to cross the tar but it proved far too small to be useful.

The couple had been walking from their parked car to their Redmoor Close home.

Steve, who served as Tavistock’s mayor last year and is a town councillor, said: “It’s really not a good enough service from Keily the contractors, but they were working for Devon County Council (DCC), so it’s their responsibility ultimately.

“I’ve complained to the county council and I’m waiting for a reply. When I first complained I was told to fill in a form, which isn’t ideal and didn’t fill me with confidence. All we’d like is an apology and acknowledgement things weren’t handled well both before the work was carried out and during and after the patching.

“We weren’t able to get into our house due to a newly-laid wet piece of tarmac which went across the width of our driveway and therefore, blocked the entrance to our front door.

“It’s a very basic right, to be able to get into your own front door and Cathy only narrowly avoided stepping onto the tar at the last minute. I think she smelled the tar in the air and realised she couldn’t go any further. The patch was also too wide for anyone to even jump across, if we were capable.

“She called to me to warn me and I then went to the one of the contractors working on patching the pavement and asked for help. He then told a traffic management worker who was in his van. This man then brought up a metal yellow roadworks warning sign and put it flat on the wet tarmac for us to walk on – which was ironic considering if the sign had been up, we could have planned to avoid the problem.

“But the sign was too small to cross. So, I used a long piece of my expensive marine plywood for us to use instead. That wasn’t ideal because it was narrow and Cathy has knee issues.”

A DCC spokesperson said: “We’re sorry for the inconvenience this caused. The work involved applying a slurry seal, a thin surface treatment helping protect and waterproof the footway, repair minor imperfections and extend life.

“Advance warning signs should normally be displayed for planned work, and we’re looking into what happened, including signage and notifying residents.”