A GREAT grandmother said she has been left housebound after ‘botched’ pavement work outside her home.

Wheelchair bound Stephanie Painter told how she had hoped to finally get her independence back when council workmen carried out repairs to the pavement outside her home.

But instead the 66-year-old, who relies on a mobility scooter after suffering a stroke, says getting out and about is now virtually impossible - because her scooter’s wheels cannot get over the kerb.

The 66-year-old from Wittering Road, Lordshill, said she was initially delighted to find the long-awaited work was being carried out – but has been left furious with the job that has been done.

Now she is calling on Southampton City Council to come and fix the problem so that she can finally go out by herself.

However, transport bosses say they are happy with the “satisfactory standard” of work they had carried out – and they have no intention of returning to fix it.

Mrs Painter said: “What they have done here is a botched job and it has just knocked my confidence again.

“I get stuck every time. I can never go out by myself.”

And it’s not just Mrs Painter who is angry with the state of the pavement, neighbour Ray Woodford, 70, also expressed his dismay with the work.

He said: “My wife has been using a wheelchair since June. If we want to walk down to Sainsbury’s we have to go a different way because the pavement is so bad. The council really needs to sort this out.

“It has been like this for eight years and it is getting worse and worse.”

Also supporting Mrs Painter is independent councillor for Coxford Ward Don Thomas, who is calling on the council to finish the job properly.

Cllr Thomas, said: “Disabled people here in Lordshill and across all of Southampton deserve decent pavements.

“Good quality pavements should be a matter of course. Wheel-chairs users, mum and dads with pushchairs, elderly and disabled who depend on motor scooters merit better than this.”

Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport Jacqui Rayment believes the work is to a ‘satisfactory standard’.

She said: “We recently levelled out the footway of Wittering Road in Lordshill to a satisfactory standard, as part of our commitment to keeping our city’s roads and footways safe and usable.”