Spoof fall-out
Council fail to see funny side
North Ayrshire Council has failed to see the funny side of a spoof film dealing with the topical issue of potholes on Arran, calling the film ‘disappointing’.
Arran film production company Utter Nonsense Films released their latest spoof in the form of a council training video for its staff.
The three-minute video features Scott Clark as the head of the ‘NA Cooncil’ and two road repair workmen who receive instructions on how to fill potholes using the optimum filling agent, Coco Pops and milk!
In what is obviously a joke, they go on to remark that the filling lasts twice as long as the material the council presently uses.
Hinting at a more serious undertone, Ian Small is also featured in the video driving over the recently repaired pothole, his vehicle adorned with his campaign sign – Arran Roads Slowly Eroding Down – which council officials demanded he remove in 2009 or face the costs involved in removing them. The signs were taken down.
However, the council insists it is doing its best to deal with unavoidable potholes, and has even drafted in additional machinery to repair the roads. It believes its staff are being negatively portrayed in the video.
A North Ayrshire Council spokesman said: ‘We have been made aware of the video and are very disappointed at the portrayal of our hard-working employees. Arran is a tightknit community where people are well known to one another, so we find it unacceptable to unfairly target people who are doing their job.
‘Unfortunately, there is very little that can be done to stop potholes happening – that’s simply a result of the climate we live in. Across Scotland, including Arran, there has been a sharp increase in the number of potholes caused by the extremely cold and wet winter we are experiencing. To help ease the problems faced by motorists on Arran, new machinery will be arriving on the island this month to help our roads team repair potholes more quickly and more efficiently.
‘In the meantime, we hope that the people behind the video will consider the impact of their actions on our employees, and indeed their fellow islanders, who are doing their absolute best to keep Arran moving and allow them to continue their work without being targeted.’
A spokesman for the film-makers said: ‘Utter Nonsense Films Arran are “disappointed” in NAC building a sense of humour bypass. Our film highlights the thankless tasks undertaken by road workers and no disrespect was intended to them (no road workers, to our knowledge, were harmed in the making of this film).
‘The film is purely intended to be funny, not political. It does seem to have touched a nerve, not only in North Ayrshire, but across the country.’