A council blunder has left a city-centre street a “danger zone” for the blind and visually impaired for more than a year.
The local authority decided to remove the pedestrian crossing at the slip road between Rosemount Viaduct and Union Terrace Gardens after surveys revealed few people were using it.
But 12 months on the council has only taken down one set of control buttons – leaving a single defunct box, and dimpled paving on either side.
The textured slabs alert the blind to dangerous obstacles such as stairs, ramps and crossings so they can navigate them safely.
Aberdeen woman Samantha Cumming has been diagnosed with type two Usher syndrome and is unable to see more than a few feet ahead of her.
She said that without an audible sound from the crossing, visually impaired can find themselves helpless.
Mrs Cumming said: “I can see partially, but the tactile bumps are really helpful in figuring out where a crossing is.
“Once I’m on them then I know to basically feel around to my left or right and find the button to push.
“I must admit I’ve sometimes found myself standing waiting at some crossings for ages because they don’t work, because you really don’t know when it’s safe to cross until you hear it beeping.
“If that happened to me at this crossing I would just be stuck there waiting until someone came by and told me it wasn’t working.”
Dustin MacDonald, the chairman of the city centre community council, said: “They’ve basically just taken away the use of the crossing and left it as a decoration.
“Guide dogs get confused when they come across the bumps on the pavement that are still set up there, they don’t know what to do.
“It should never have been removed in the first place.”
An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “Our roads department were waiting for a live wire inside the pole which was connected to nearby CCTV to be redistributed before they could remove the pole.
“This redistribution work has now been carried out and the work to remove the pole and change the pavement is expected to be carried out in the coming weeks.”