STONES are rolling into the homes of a Grimsby Street – but there is nothing rocking about it.
Huddleston Road residents are infuriated after a year of constantly bringing in loose stones from the untarmacked road into their homes.
They say since North East Lincolnshire Council resurfaced the road a year ago, there are thousands of sharp, hard, stones which get stuck in their shoes and brought into their homes.
They are flicked up at cars and children can't play in the street for fear of falling down and seriously hurting themselves. Pets have also got them stuck in their paws.
Council workers are doing regular sweeps of the road, but the stones soon return and residents want it to be returned to how it was before the work was carried out.
Retired Colette Hickson, 64, has lived in the street for 30 years and claims she has contacted NELC about the problem on numerous occasions.
She said: "We are being treated very badly, we all feel so let down. It presents a huge health and safety issue and the council are not considering the impact it is having.
"We are trying to sort our house out yet we are constantly picking stones out of rugs, carpets, even pets! I have nearly fallen down the stairs after standing barefoot on a stone."
When the work was carried out last June, residents were expecting a smooth surface, comparable to Carr Lane, Grimsby.
But they describe what they are left with as more a bridle path.
Keith Briggs, 51, a process worker at Youngs Seafood Ltd, said: "It looks a right mess – the council claims it has no money, but surely sending a sweeper down every week is going to cost them more in the long-run?
"Every day it is in our carpets, they scratch our new car, they get trodden up the stairs.
"We pay our council tax and get nothing in return.
"These council bosses are a bunch of clowns."
'Road swept several times' North East Lincolnshire Council did not provide an explanation as to why stone chips from the road are still an issue for residents a year after the work was completed. However, a spokesman for the council said it had arranged for extra sweeping outside Mrs Hickson's home. Jason Longhurst, head of development at NELC, said: "Huddleston Road has been swept several times since it was surface dressed last year. "There is a higher than normal amount of loose chippings of the road, but there are no other defects that require intervention at this time." As reported, between January 1, 2008 and September last year, NELC had paid out £10,877 as a result of damage caused by potholes and poor road surfaces.