£2,500 repair bill after 110-year-old Denby Dale bus stop wall collapses

Oct 28 2009 By Nick Lavigueur

A NEW bus stop has caused a 110-year-old wall to collapse, a man has claimed.

Paul Kelly, 60, says his boundary wall on Cumberworth Lane, Denby Dale, collapsed in July after work by Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, in August 2007.

They moved the bus stop in front of his property which included digging at the foot of his wall and raising the level of the kerb.

Two years on Mr Kelly, a construction worker, says the work and the vibration from buses caused the wall to topple.

Mr Kelly, who lives alone and has just suffered had a triple heart bypass, said Metro have been unwilling to talk and he did not feel it was fair that he had to pay more than £2,500 to have it repaired.

He has now commissioned a structural engineer to investigate the wall’s collapse.

He said: “The wall has fallen down exactly where they did the work.

“I think they should repair it. Because it’s a drystone wall people waiting for buses have been picking away at it.

“And when the buses are idling there’s a fair bit of weight sitting there.