Medway Council and MHS Homes install dropped kerb four years after first being promised

KentOnline / KMTV

It was likened to a “comedy sketch” and took four years to sort, but a pensioner’s battle to get a dropped kerb has finally been won - thanks to KMTV.  Gabriel Morris reports...

Transcript

00:00I'm just happy enough to get that done, thanks to the newspapers, the power of the press.

00:07Just weeks ago, Michael had no choice but to drive illegally onto his property.

00:12The law says you can't drive over a kerb unless it's been dropped.

00:16His housing provider promised to do the work back in 2021, but despite repeated reminders, nothing happened.

00:23Michael contacted us two weeks ago and re-raised the issue with MHS Homes.

00:28We also learnt that Medway Council has flagged a payment issue.

00:32Now at last, the kerb has been dropped, something Michael says he never expected to see.

00:40Done. Oh, well pleased. Yeah, it's something I've got done at last.

00:46It's taken four years to do it though.

00:48You never thought it was going to be done, did you?

00:50No, I didn't, to be honest, after four years.

00:52I think, you know, I'm bothered, just passed you from one to the other.

00:59When did you find out that it was going to be fixed?

01:03Yesterday, when they dug it out.

01:06Michael lives with emphysema.

01:09Walking long distances leaves him short of breath.

01:12Now that he can legally use his driveway, life should be a little easier.

01:16Now there is still one problem with this hard standing.

01:20The drain's at the top and it's on a slope.

01:23So any time it rains, the water's going to flow right towards the house.

01:27Just look, here's some water.

01:30And if we go downwards, it's going to flow all the way down.

01:36And you were a builder before in the construction.

01:38Yeah, once upon a time, yeah.

01:40Yeah, so what would you say about that?

01:43Well, the thing that I find still, he was a contractor that put it in.

01:49It was one of the managers that put the drain in at the top.

01:53And I was thinking, what are you doing?

01:55The drain's not going to the top.

01:56So I thought, oh, he must know what he's doing.

01:59Probably putting the drain up there and the drain at the bottom as well.

02:02So I just let him get on with it.

02:05He's lived here for more than 40 years.

02:07The battle for the drop kerb finally over.

02:11But he's still asking whether anyone will fix the drainage issue.

02:15Gabriel Morris for KNTV in Strood.

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