Cut-price materials to resurface Basildon roads are causing damage to cars and could pose a threat to unsuspecting pedestrians, angry motorists and cabbies said today.
Cheap or cost effective? - The quality of the resurfacing materials has sparked anger Picture: NICK ANSELL 2h8yy9
Basildon Council has admitted its current re-laying roads like Upper Mayne and Nethermayne is being carried out at a "fraction of the cost" of others.
Drivers claim the cut-price resurfacing damages cars bodies and windscreens, and could even see stones hitting pedestrians.
Sid Smith, 58, of Cleveland Road, Basildon, who has been a town centre taxi driver for 22 years, said: "These stones are not only a danger to our cars, but to members of the public as well.
"People could be minding their own business, walking along the pavement, and get hit by stones. They literally fly off our tyres."
A council spokesman said: "This type of surfacing can be carried out at a fraction of the cost of full re-surfacing and is an economical, yet reliable, solution within our restricted road maintenance budgets."
Published Friday July 2, 2004
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