Concerns have been raised over ungritted pavements on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.
Shoppers venturing into Perth city centre had to negotiate “lethal” footways last weekend as they slipped and slid their way around town.
Traders at Perth Farmers’ Market were unable to erect stalls on Saturday due to the unsafe condition of the South Inch Car Park.
‘Footways are too dangerous’
Perth resident Mike Perry described the pavements and footpaths as “lethal”.
He said: “The majority of footways have been lethal when the snow falls and is not cleared.
“The roads are almost completely clear. Hooray, but it’s not exactly support for ‘Active Travel’ is it?”
He added: “This morning I have seen pedestrians walking on roads impeding vehicles and at some danger to themselves because the footways are too dangerous.”
‘Never-ending mission of slipping and sliding’
Another Perth resident had a treacherous trip into town on Sunday to finish their Christmas shopping.
He said: “It was well documented that freezing temperatures and snow were on the way and I expected a bit of extra nuisance getting into the city centre.
“But I didn’t expect the pavements to be nearly as bad as they were, especially late on Sunday morning when walking in to pick up a few final things for Christmas.
“Walking over St Leonard’s Bridge was a particularly challenging experience and felt like a never-ending mission of slipping and sliding.
“I made it unscathed but was worrying about others.
“Even in the city centre, Scott Street pavements were dangerous and I almost decked it while walking up South Street.”
Fury over market problems
On Saturday morning Perth Farmers’ Market organisers announced traders would be unable to erect their stalls “due to the unsafe condition of the South Inch Car Park”.
Perth City Centre Conservative councillor Chris Ahern told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he was “furious”.
Bailie Ahern added: “The whole point of leaving the market at its current location is because it was a better location.
“At a time of year when it will be stallholders’ biggest shopping day it is unacceptable that organisers or the council had not thought about clearing the area for stallholders and visitors.”
‘Ground was absolutely frozen solid’
Perth Farmers’ Market manager Adeline Watson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service they arrived at 4.45am on Saturday to see that nothing was cleared.
She said: “The ground was absolutely frozen solid. We had no option but to make a decision there and then that stalls would not be able to go up.”
However, around two thirds of stallholders were still able to attend and trade from their vehicles instead.
The market manager added: “It was unfortunate this happened but we worked with what we had.
“We had 45 booked in and there were about 30 there which is really good as normally when it’s like that there might be about 15.
“We were glad to be able to operate in some form or another. There was quite a good turnout. We get very well supported.”
Council ‘had all staff out’ dealing with the weather
A Perth and Kinross Council spokesperson said: “We have had all our available staff and equipment resources out dealing with the effects of the severe weather.
“All roads and pavements in our network, over 1,500 miles, are prioritised and treated accordingly.”
