Collapse brings £250k road upgrade work to grinding halt
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A WICK bed-and-breakfast owner is threatening to sue Transport Scotland as a "deep-seated flaw" halts a quarter-of-a-million-pound upgrade of the town’s South Road.
James Bremner, who runs the The Clachan, spoke out as work stopped on the resurfacing of the A99 trunk road after a hole in the ground appeared near the entrance to the cemetery.
The cause of the hole is now being investigated which has put a spanner in the roadworks being carried out by Scotland TranServ, acting on behalf of Transport Scotland.
Mr Bremner alleged the trunk road operator has repeatedly ignored local residents over the past decade who claim a water channel has collapsed under the road and that flooding is continuing to be an issue.
"If we do have a serious flood I will look at getting my solicitors involved to sue Transport Scotland," he told the John O’Groat Journal.
"Somebody has got to be held responsible for this because they know about this problem. They just decided to totally ignore it."
The hole appeared on Monday night but at that time it measured about the size of a person’s foot, said Mr Bremner.
"The workers came back the next morning and poked and prodded and it caved into a hole about a metre-and-half squared," he said.
"They have backfilled it at the moment with hardcore so it doesn’t look too obvious. I think what they are now scared of is that they are going to be hit with the same problem all the way down the road."
Scotland TranServ’s customer service manager, Cathel Macaskill, said work has been suspended until the cause of the road collapse can be established.
"While resurfacing the A99 in South Road a deep-seated flaw was discovered in the road structure and it is currently under investigation," said Mr Macaskill.
"In the interests of public safety the work has been stopped until the cause is established. An assessment has indicated that there is no threat to northbound traffic."
Mr Bremner claimed the hole has been caused by a collapsed water channel which takes surface water away from the cemetery and retail park to an outflow at the river.
He argued he has extensive correspondence – going back eight to 10 years – detailing his dealings about the matter with Transport Scotland and the trunk road agency.
"They are pulling the wool over the public’s eyes," he said. "Spending £250,000 is just going to be a total waste of money. We’ve been battling over this for the past 10 years but we’ve been getting nowhere because no-one has the money to replace the culvert."
Mr Macaskill would not comment on what the "deep-seated flaw" is as the investigation is still ongoing.
Mr Bremner claimed the workers would come across the problem "all the way down the road" and alleged it is actually causing the road to subside. "All the properties in the area are going to get devalued as we continue to claim off insurance," he said.
"We’ve got a serious problem here. I just run a small business but it’s still my bread and butter."
Scotland TranServ said that in the meantime, after consultation with the local community, workers have moved to make an early start on the resurfacing scheme on the A99 at Thrumster.
Work has now started on a one-mile length of trunk road which is programmed to finish next Friday. The long-awaited resurfacing scheme came under threat earlier this year after claims emerged that the agency did not have the funds to do the work.
However, following complaints from the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council and local politicians, the money was found and Transport Scotland and TranServ made a U-turn on the plan to mothball the much-needed resurfacing work.
As the Groat went to press yesterday afternoon, a comment from Transport Scotland was not available.
