Staff at an Aberdeen chemist claim they are being forced to give first aid to a steady stream of people being seriously hurt by supposed safety measures maintained by the council.
Workers at Charles Michie’s Pharmacy on Union Street have been left cleaning up cuts and scrapes after falls in the city centre – and even having to call an ambulance for those with nastier injuries.
The council installed wooden decking, billed as ‘pavement extensions’ early last summer, as part of the coronavirus response.
Blocking bus lanes along the Granite Mile, they were paid for with a £1.76 million grant that funded Spaces For People work across Aberdeen – designed to give pedestrians and cyclists more room for distancing as the world reopened after lockdown.
The project, which has been gradually scaled back everywhere but in the city centre, is up for review next month when councillors will decide longer-term plans for Union Street and roads around Belmont Streets.
Union Street pharmacist: Spaces For People causing serious injuries
But in the meantime, pharmacist Dawn Bagnall warns people will continue to be hurt – especially as the weather turns more wintry and the wooden decking becomes more slippery.
In the last month, a woman looked to have broken her hip in a fall, while a man tripped and badly sprained his wrist as he was told by a bus driver to run to another stop.
Ms Bagnall, who patched up his eyebrow after the incident, said: “He didn’t have to go to hospital thankfully, but I would say the majority do.
“A couple of times a month, I have to call an ambulance so I’m nearly on first name terms with 999.
“I would say this year we have dealt with something like 20 injuries – and these are only the people we are seeing in our part of Union Street and consider people were not really out at the start of the year.
“There have definitely been some serious injuries, people breaking bones.”
Sitting in the pharmacy’s once-busy cafe, she added: “This place used to be mobbed with elderly people, sometimes you couldn’t get in here without queuing.
“Now, they don’t want to come to Union Street anymore because it’s too daunting and too dangerous to find a bus stop or walk on parts of the road.”
Scores of people on social media have backed Michies in their calls for the decking and temporary road closures to be removed as soon as possible.
Aberdeen man laid up for five weeks after Spaces For People trip
Paul Legge-Dunbar was one of those – having spent five weeks signed off from his work at a car and van hire centre after tripping while crossing the road after an optician’s appointment in April.
He said: “I couldn’t make out the wooden boards from the pavement and it must have been an awkward height.
“I clipped it and just remember going flying and hearing a crack when I landed in a heap.
“I didn’t get an X-ray because the NHS was trying to limit the number of people going to hospital at the time but I was off work for five weeks.
“Because of the fall I could hardly breathe, I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t do anything. I was just doubled up with pain.”
But a council spokeswoman said all the pavement extensions were being inspected regularly and fitted with anti-slip grip strips to prevent falls.
She added: “Anyone who has experienced a trip or fall or incident to their injury etc in the city’s streets, which they believe to be caused by council property, should contact us and claim forms will be forwarded to the person or their representative and the incident taken up by the city’s insurers.”
Not wanting to “cause a fuss”, Mr Legge-Dunbar did not report the accident to the local authority.
The spokeswoman also claimed they made it easier for people to board buses and to prevent people from parking in the closed-off bus lanes.
Blind Garthdee man has avoided ‘Union Street obstacle course’ since March 2020
However, 85-year-old Duncan Simpson, who is blind, waved off any suggestion the works – which have forced him to avoid the city centre since last March – were helpful.
“I was advised not to return to the city centre because of the obstacles placed around Union Street and the problem of standing at a bus stop,” the Garthdee pensioner said.
“I am told the bus is away out in the middle of the road.
“Normally, when a bus arrives I would ask the driver what number he was driving until I was sure I was getting on the right one – but you can’t do that when it is in the middle of the road.
“The other obstacle is these decks they have placed, those alone would leave me with no idea where I was going.
“Several people have told me to avoid Union Street at all costs, so that is what I have done.
“For years, it has been an obstacle course for blind people with the unnecessary things – they call it ‘street furniture – on the pavements, and this only creates further difficulties for us.”
Is the end in sight? Councillors to debate future of Spaces For People next month
Councillor Sandra Macdonald, the administration’s transport spokeswoman who spent much of last summer defending the controversial road changes, told Aberdeen Journals the recent tales of people being hurt were “distressing”, admitting the council was aware of “difficulties” Spaces For People was causing.
She added: “Since the measures were put in, we have asked people to be extra careful but the bottom line is they are being looked at.
“I am yet to see the options coming forward to the city growth committee in November but that is where the future of the interventions will be decided.
“Elected members will look at the options and evidence from officers and decide – on a balancing act of public health versus business requests versus the whole thing about maintaining, enforcing and keeping the place tidy – how to move forward.
“It would be presumptuous to comment now as I wouldn’t like to call what the decision will be.
“Nobody wants to see these temporary measures stay there forever but there have been requests to keep some of it from businesses, though there are other traders who would be glad to see the back of it.”
Beer tents and Aberdeen city centre physical distancing road closures to remain