Furloughed joiner, 51, spends two MONTHS clearing piles of sand – only for council to put it back

A kindhearted joiner who was furloughed during coronavirus cleared 25 tonnes of sand from a coastal cycle path after a woman broke herself off her bike – only for the council to pile more up.

Chris Truett, 51, gave himself agonising blisters while walking 36 miles up and down the seafront armed with a wheelbarrow and shovel.

He spent the best part of two months getting rid of huge mounds which had built up over the course of years on the path in Southport, Merseyside, after hearing a cyclist had fallen and hurt herself.

But he was devastated when he went to the beach last Saturday to discover Sefton Council had cleared sand back onto the cycle way from an adjoining pavement.

He said: ‘I was just absolutely disgusted. I am a volunteer, I shouldn’t be doing this job in the first place.’

Chris said sand had built up on the path over the course of about two years and it had been there so long grass had started to grow on it and it had become hard and compacted.

He said: ‘I go down the beach most days and shortly after I was furloughed I got speaking to someone who told me a woman had come off her bike and broke her collar bone.

‘I just kept thinking how I would feel if that was my mother so I decided I wanted to do something about the situation myself, and so I used a wheelbarrow and shovel to move the sand.

‘I spent two weeks going down there every day. After I went back to work, I did it at the weekends. It was hard work. I got painful blisters. But it was worth it knowing I was making the path safe.

‘Lots of people stopped to thank me, assuming I was a council worker.’

Chris was proud of his work so he was astounded when he went down to the seafront and discovered that Sefton Council had dumped sand back onto the path.

He added: ‘ Sand had blown onto the adjoining pavement and had just been chucked onto the cycle way.

‘I have seen council workers doing it in the past. It’s the easy option for them and it’s pure laziness.

‘The sand is far more dangerous on the cycle path than it is on the footpath as people can come off their bikes.

‘In lockdown it’s been incredibly busy. There have been 100s of cyclists out enjoying the coast.

‘I went and got my shovel and got rid of it again. Only a fraction of my work had been undone, but it was still a significant amount of sand and infuriating that it had happened.  

He estimates that there is around 1000 tonnes of sand on the path altogether and he is continuing to devote his Saturdays to the job now he has returned to work.

A Sefton Council spokesperson said: ‘Due to its location and the weather conditions at the coast the cycle route will always be prone to windblown sand, as people will understand.

‘Our Green Sefton team, who manage the coast, undertake regular observation and maintenance to ensure that these coastal footpaths and cycleways are kept clear for all users.

‘This work is undertaken both proactively and reactively as quickly as our limited resources allow, and is undertaken with the correct equipment whilst observing strict health and safety standards.

‘Sand is sometimes manually piled in areas, as this essential maintenance takes place, to facilitate it’s move back onto the beach by a tractor.

‘Our Green Sefton officers have engaged with the local man to look at working together to address issues with the windblown sand and how to safely co-ordinate any volunteer activity that people may want to offer their time to.

‘At present, due to COVID-19 restrictions, Green Sefton’s volunteer led programmes to maintain the coast cannot take place, but will be reinstated just as soon as it is safe to do so.’