A SOUTHAMPTON man is calling on the council to act after fracturing his hip on a notorious city road.

Ian Miller became the latest person to suffer an injury after tripping over uneven paving stones on Southampton’s “most expensive” road.

He says he may seek compensation for the injury, and the council says work to repair the stretch of Above Bar Street will finally begin later this year.

Daily Echo:

It was laid at a cost of £150,000 five years ago as part of the renovation of Guildhall Square but within 18 months the road surface began to break up.

Former council leader Royston Smith labelled it an “embarrassment” and said he had called for it to be repaired for more than two years.

Daily Echo: The £150,000 road that’s ‘an embarrassment to Southampton’

Mr Miller was walking across the road to the Sptitfire pub at about 9am on June 25 when he tripped on a paving stone.

Two passers-by rushed to his aid and he was then taken to Southampton General Hospital with a fractured hip.

Daily Echo:

Now, recovering at home in Seafield Road, Millbrook, the 43-year-old Carnival telesales staff member has called on the council to sort out the road once and for all.

He said: “That piece of pavement is notorious, it’s dangerous.

“I’m 43 but what if it had happened to someone older than me?

“I want them to fix the road so that this doesn’t happen again.

“It’s uneven and dangerous. There are absolutely no signs whatsoever.

“If necessary I will seek compensation, I will take this all of the way.”

Daily Echo:

He says that the injury means he has been signed off work for several weeks.

He is not the only resident to have fallen foul of the road recently, with grandmother-of-three Kay Russell taking legal action against the council after being flung from her bicycle after hitting a lifted kerb.

The 65-year-old from Ocean Village escaped serious injury but described it as a “death trap” and said it had affected her confidence when cycling.

A spokesman for the council said: “Work to repair a section of Above Bar Street will begin in mid-August and is expected to take approximately six weeks.

“We have been working with designers to ensure that a suitable replacement surface is provided and is of a more durable quality considering the weight of traffic using the area.

“Indications are the surface failure is down to a combination of factors including poorer than expected ground conditions and changes to ground water levels attributed to nearby development.

“The reconstruction work will be carried out by the council’s highways partner, Balfour Beatty Living Places.”