Danger of falling into drains due to missing manhole covers in Morecambe

During the course of cleaning the back streets of Morecambe from soil, dirt, dog pooh, and flytipped goods a team of volunteers have discovered manholes without covers on which could be deadly dangerous to pedestrians.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Liberal Democrat candidate for Morecambe Central and Poulton Paul Hart who has been part of the campaign to deep cleanse back streets in Morecambe said: "We discovered drain covers or manhole covers missing on Westover Street and Albert Road in Morecambe, but there must be more of these grids missing in the West End and other areas of Morecambe.

"The open drains where the grids have been stolen are also blocked and we have reported them, in some cases more than once.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"The thing is that these manholes are deadly dangerous to pedestrians. Lancashire County Council have a policy of putting a wooden patch over these manholes until they can repair them but their resources are so stretched that they cannot do even this basic thing.

An open drain in Morecambe without a drain cover which people could fall into and injure themselves.An open drain in Morecambe without a drain cover which people could fall into and injure themselves.
An open drain in Morecambe without a drain cover which people could fall into and injure themselves.

"There is a drain with a wooden cover in Back Oxford Street in Morecambe but the wood is going rotten and people could still fall into it.

"The drain covers are being stolen, which I don't understand really because there is no money in it for scrap.

"The Morecambe Liberal Democrats have decided that they will try to provide the wood covers and fit them but we need to know where all these open drains are.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We want people to make us aware of the missing manhole covers before there is an accident."

Paul Hart with some of the rubbish and flytipped goods on Back Kensington Road in Morecambe which was cleared by volunteers.Paul Hart with some of the rubbish and flytipped goods on Back Kensington Road in Morecambe which was cleared by volunteers.
Paul Hart with some of the rubbish and flytipped goods on Back Kensington Road in Morecambe which was cleared by volunteers.

Call Paul Hart on 07961 738325 if you know where an open drain is.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "Missing covers on drains or access points for utilities can pose a severe risk to safety, and as such we will always attend to make them safe as soon as they are reported to us.

"Some of our gullies still have heavy iron covers which can be a target for thieves due to their scrap value, and a number were stolen in Morecambe over a few days last year. When this happens we replace them with modern light ductile iron covers, which have no scrap value, however this is time consuming as also requires the frame to be broken out and replaced.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"As we couldn't repair all the gully covers which had been stolen immediately we fitted temporary covers made of plywood for safety. We’re sorry that a very small number were initially missed during the follow up work to fit permanent new covers, however this should now have been completed, with the final piece of work carried out this week to replace a gully grate on Back Oxford Street."

To report a missing manhole cover to Lancashire County Council telephone 0300 123 6780 (Monday to Friday 8am-5pm excluding bank holidays).