A mum has slammed Southampton City Council and said she will not be "imprisoned" in her own home after workmen blocked access to her house.
Becky Voller had to go on the school run yesterday morning, but as she tried to leave her house on Hinkler Road, she saw that the pavement outside had been retarmacked.
Cones and tape were placed outside her door, and she broke through this tape to get to her car and drive her son to school.
But Becky said as she left her house and walked through the construction site, workmen shouted: "Oi love, what are you doing".
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Becky told the Echo: "I'm not going to hurdle over the tape and injure myself, so I snapped the tape and got my son safely across."
The works directly outside Becky's house. (Image: Becky Voller) "They said 'oi love' and when I came back I had to snap the tape again, I'm not just going to sit in my car and wait for it all to dry before I go back into my own house."
Becky said that contractors were working further up the road on Wednesday, and argued that the "poor souls that live there wouldn't be able to get out of their house" either.
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"I'm not going to be imprisoned in my own house," Becky said.
"I can't understand why they couldn't have left a little gap in the walkway on the pavement, wait until the rest of it is dry and then fill that little gap in.
"They've left us no access to get from the house."
According to Southampton City Council's roadworks map, repairs on Hinkler Road's footpaths have been ongoing since June 11 and will last until July 2.
Works are being completed in partnership with Balfour Beatty, and a spokesperson for the council said the works will increase the lifespan of these footpaths by making the more "robust".
The spokesperson also said the council had written to the community to advise of these works in advance.
Southampton City Council's full response
A spokesperson continued: “Our team are currently working in very hot conditions with a product that requires careful management to lay, and needs time to dry and set, and so we do recognise that the works will impact the activities of the communities in which we work.
"Our team has been making full use of their permitted working hours from 7.30am to be able to return the area for access as soon as possible and to remain safe in this current weather during the hottest time of the day.
"We understand on this occasion that our work has led to inconvenience to one of our residents, and we’d like to apologise to them for this.
"We have liaised with our subcontractor who didn’t mean to cause any offence to the person, and wanted to attract their attention, as they were concerned for their safety and wanted to direct them not to walk across the wet product.
"This wasn’t met positively, and our team received abusive words directed at them.
"We are sorry if the comment offended the person and we have subsequently spoken with our team members and reminded them of the care, and compassion that we all should be expecting at all times.”
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