Wick river side bridge

[Mr P Cannop]

Beware of Bridge at riverside!! This is the result of a 5 year old running to the play park, fell down this missing slat on bridge and smashed his face Rowan has been in hospital since 1.30 and hoping to get home in the next hour! The bridge was reported today at 4pm and still nothing done about it! Council tomorrow morning to complain about the neglect im absolutely raging and disgusted!

[orkneycadian]

I suspect that not many councils can take reports of defects at 16:00 on a Saturday, and have it fixed by 19:27 the same day.

[Whitewater]

The foot bridge has been in need of repair/maintenance for a few years now.

[donss]

The foot bridge has been in need of repair/maintenance for a few years now.

Like everything else Nth of Inverness there last few years... :-/

[cesare]

i was down there other day and it looked fine to me...both my dogs crossed no probs also

[fender]

The bridge was vandalised by some brain dead individuals no doubt high on some form of medication. I trust when they hear about that poor young lad that they have some remorse and own up, but then again.!

[dunbrake]

The foot bridge has been in need of repair/maintenance for a few years now.

The bridge was repaired in July 2013.

[Dadie]

Look up the ambulance chasers solicitors etc for a no blame claim, no money up front company ..take photos of injuries (sooner the better) and of the offending bit on the bridge.
Might help in getting it sorted sooner rather than later ...with just the threat of legal action.....or go through with the legal action ..but use a better company so you get the compensation rather than the company taking the lions share!

[sjr014]

We were up the River on Sat afternoon and the bridge was fine, but then when we went up on Sunday afternoon it had been vandalised, we were actually there when the little chap fell over, he was running ahead of adults he was with and he sadly wasn't looking where he was going and tripped and fell, an accident. I think we are all to quick to blame someone nowadays and as bridge had been vandalised over the weekend I don't think the council can be blamed!

[t.g69]

In response to sjr014: If you were actually there then you will know there was only one adult with him, not adults! And can you tell me exactly how many 5 year old kids are looking directly in front of their feet when their minds are on the swings?? Again if you were there and witnessed this then you would have seen that he did not trip...... his feet went down through a 170mm gap in the wooden boards that create the footbridge!!
This bridge has been in a very poor state exactly as whitewater has said, and I fully agree with donss with his post with regards to repair/maintenance north of Inverness.
Dunbrake has said that it was repaired in 2013, only a few boards have ever been replaced on both footbridges at any one time of any repairs being carried out.
This is not what you would expect as a satisfactory maintenance programme for a public footbridge, especially leading to a swing park where a young child may be injured!!!!
The injuries caused to the poor innocent little boy heading to the swing park have clearly been caused due to the negligence of the council to properly maintain the footbridge!!
If you think that the bridge has been vandalised then why only that one particular board? If the bridges are properly maintained to the correct standards and boards replaced with the correct load bearing timber then the wood would not be vandalised without the aid of power tools.

[christopher_beattie]

Sooz, maybe someone as narrow minded as you should be blamed then. You obviously don't have kids, nor seen the swelling and bruises on the wee lads face. Of course the council are to blame you idiot. If a pot hole damages your car it's the councils fault, not the contractor who laid the road. Maybe keep your snooty comments to yourself in future eh.

[ocd]

Look up the ambulance chasers solicitors etc for a no blame claim, no money up front company ..take photos of injuries (sooner the better) and of the offending bit on the bridge.
Might help in getting it sorted sooner rather than later ...with just the threat of legal action.....or go through with the legal action ..but use a better company so you get the compensation rather than the company taking the lions share!

And who exactly is that going to help?? Don't get me wrong what happened to this little boy is awful and I am glad he wasn't more seriously hurt, but the only person to blame is that mindless vandal who saw fit to remove slats from the bridge. The last thing on my mind if my child was hurt was "oh I wonder how much I could get for this!" unfortunately that is what is wrong with society today, every mistake/accident has a value. Who do you think is going to foot the bill for a compensation claim.....Council Tax Payers...not the mindless vandal....more money away from vital services. I hope the bridge has now been repaired and safe for everyone to use.

[The Flea]

I used to take my kids a walk over the bridges to go to the swing park but I stopped for fear of them getting injured. It's been badly neglected for some time now and couldn't believe that some boards were actually missing. It's been an accident waiting to happen and now some poor kid has been badly injured.

[Mr P Cannop]

it should of never happend in the first place