Warning that gate war puts lives at risk
A community councillor has condemned the actions of drivers suspected of damaging a gate put in place to prevent them using a private road just to dodge roadworks.
George Black, chairman of Luncarty, Redgorton and Moneydie Community Council, lashed out online after learning someone had lifted a gate fitted to a farm track at Denmarkfield off its post and chucked it in a nearby field.
The barrier was put in place to stop people motoring along the A9 using the route as a means to avoid roadworks and speed restrictions by driving through Luncarty then re-joining the trunk road further north.
It was fitted in the latter half of last year amid concern motorists could collide with pedestrians as the track is narrow with no pavement in some places, and its condition is said to be deteriorating day by day.
But Mr Black reckons impatient drivers are still using the route on a regular basis as locals keep finding the gate open when they wander past. He suspects someone stopped and removed the gate sometime between 7am and 10am one morning last week.
And he also suspects locals fed up with motorists using the route as a rat run are behind recent attempts to booby trap the route with broken glass, which he reckons was put down purposely to puncture people’s tyres.
Mr Black said on the group’s Facebook page four days ago: “Amidst the world concerns of a deadly virus and localised panic, some mindless, moronic idiot has taken it upon themselves to remove one of the Denmarkfield gates and throw it over the fence into an adjacent field.
“This act of sheer selfishness will cause more unnecessary work for already overstretched decent people who quite frankly have enough to do at this time.
“I make no apologies for the wording of this post nor the reference to the ongoing threat to world health in the same passage.
“Perhaps the fool who did this - and who is probably responsible for the previous incidents - is reading this (or maybe has to have someone read it to them) - might want to come out in daylight and identify themselves.
“Feel free to spout your reasoning for creating a danger or maybe even take a walk down there at dusk when someone taking a short cut is hurrying home in their car not paying proper attention to who may be walking there.”
And speaking to the PA over the weekend following the discovery of broken glass along the route, Mr Black said he believes two warring factions are now engaged in a “tit-for-tat” battle for control of it.
He said: “It appears somebody has got some kind of grievance. A resident saw someone moving the gate around again (on Saturday) and fiddling about with it.
“It looks like we’ve got two different factions. Somebody ties the gate open then somebody ties it shut. Somebody has now taken the gate away and now somebody has put glass down.
“It’s done for sheer badness. It’s idiocy. It’s tit for tat. And it’s reckless conduct.”
Mr Black went on to say the ongoing incidents along the road have been reported to Police Scotland and it is understood officers are currently making enquiries.