Pensioner put at risk trying to cross bridge
A Perth OAP says crossing Perth’s bridges is not for the faint-hearted.
Eighty-one-year-old Irene Gunnion says trying to socially distance as she goes shopping for essential items is getting increasingly harder as traffic builds up and people refuse to move.
The Perth pensioner is backing a call from PKC’s Lib Dem group for one-way pavements to be in operation in Perth City Centre.
Irene told the PA:“It was absolutely fine when lockdown first started but now it has got really busy.
“I have to go on the road because people will not move.”
Irene is fiercely independent and refuses to get help with her shopping, choosing to walk from her home on the North side of the Tay to M&S for essential items.
She said she is extremely vigilant and careful, using a mask, gloves and sanitiser to stay safe.
An active octogenarian who enjoys walking, Irene says it helps her mental wellbeing but is finding it more difficult as both the amount of vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles increase.
She said:“Invariably at times, I have placed myself on the road or hurried from side to side in order to avoid folk who do not adhere to or give a jot about physical distancing.
“They are everywhere but the bridges are a worry. I have to be, in the words of Boris ‘alert’, which I am anyway.”
She finds the Queens Bridge easier due to the wider pavements but has great difficulty circumnavigating her way across the Perth’s Old Bridge also known as Smeaton’s Bridge.
Irene said:“Some folk, young and old, walk surefooted bang in the centre of the pavement and they’re not moving.
“There’s little room left for little old me. One young girl actually thanked me as I stepped onto the road.”
We reported earlier this week that the council was reviewing potential social distancing“conflict points”across the region.
Lib Dem leader Cllr Peter Barrett welcomed Perth and Kinross Council’s commitment earlier this week to look at social distancing safety issues on the bridge and any other road safety issues.
Cllr Barrett said:“I am determined that this is looked at properly. Common sense tells you it is a good idea and I am grateful to residents for raising the matter.”