Anger at wall repairs after road collision in Wigan

Stuart Johnson’s wall after the work carried out by Wigan Council

Stuart Johnson said a driver crashed into his wall, which backs onto Masefield Drive, Worsley Mesnes, on October 28 last year.

The incident caused a great deal of damage with Wigan Council having to undertake work to make the structure safe.

However, Mr Johnson is unhappy with the mess left by the work which has seen the wall lowered to a safe level.

Damage caused to Stuart Johnson’s wall after a driver crashed into it

He said that he is looking at forking out a £3,500 bill to pay for repairs.

He said: “The crash happened at about 9.30am and I was in work and received a call from the council saying what had happened and that they’d have to do something to make it safe.

“By the time I got back home, most of the wall had been knocked down. A few days later they then come back to put fencing up.

“I’ve had three separate builders who have said they could have made the damaged section safe and then applied a metal fence until repairs can be done.”

He said: “I was told they needed to destroy the entire wall to protect the public.

“I don’t see why they couldn’t have just dealt with the damage in question, which was quite small, without having to knock most of the wall down.

“They will not help in any way and I’m left with a £3,500 bill for builders to come and repair it.”

He added: “The police attended on the day and I’ve tried phoning them to ask about whether they’ve found the driver responsible and to this day I don’t know who crashed into the wall.”

Wigan Council said that if Mr Johnson believes the works were unjustified, he can apply to magistrates court for a review and will be entitled to compensation for the wall if successful.

They said this a standard process.

Marie Bintley, assistant director of growth and housing at Wigan Council said: “In line with our duty of care to protect the public from harm or injury, a decision was made to lower the brick wall to a safe level due to significant damage following a collision.

“We came to an agreement with Mr. Johnson that the bricks could remain on the site and following further conversations, a fence was erected around the area as a short-term measure while he considers his options.”