Employees could check roads on their way to and from work
One reader thinks the council would have quite a network of employees who could report on potholes and other roads problems
Sir, – I was not surprised to see that one of your readers who had their car damaged by a pothole had been refused compensation by the council’s insurer. This is par for the course for these organisations, who probably have not even inspected the roads concerned.
I would, however, like to point out to the council, who state there are insufficient staff to regularly check the roads that, as one of the largest employers in the area they have readily available personnel at all levels who probably travel to work using most of the roads in the council area. In addition, council vehicles cover most of the major and minor roads. It should not be beyond the intelligence of council officers to instruct all council employees, and even councillors, to look out for, and report, the location of potholes to a central point in the roads department to enable remedial work to be undertaken at an early stage.
In the expectation that this will be found to be too difficult for the council to implement, I would point out that on all RAF stations it is incumbent on every individual to look out for problems which could affect aircraft safety or health and safety, and to bring any problem to the attention of a superior for necessary action. A similar system could be implemented by the council and, most importantly, would not cost anything to the public purse (although some of the more senior members of staff would probably insist that they should receive an allowance for the extra work involved). – Yours etc,
C.R. Garland
102 Califer Road,
Forres.