You Know What I Do, When I’m In An Unfamiliar Area?

I take more care. Simples!

A furious cyclist is suing Southend Council after dislocating her ankle in the town’s seafront “shared space” zone.

Oh boy! *gets popcorn*

Visitor Karen Stanley, 51, came to the town with her husband, Neil, 43, for a bike ride along the seafront, including the revamped £7.6million City Beach area, in Marine Parade. Spotting three cars behind her, she pulled over to let them through, tripping over the small kerb which runs through the zone.

Mrs Stanley now faces six weeks in plaster and has had to cancel a holiday in Menorca, because of the August 18 accident.

There’s precious little sympathy for her in the comments, I have to say…

She said: “We will be putting in a personal injury claim against the council, but we will also be appealing for more signs and road markings to help define the boundaries.

“We feel this whole shared space concept the council loves is very confusing and, with five different-coloured stone blocks and the road surface, it’s very difficult to know what is flush with the pathway or where the kerbs are.”

She claims it’s even harder for visitors:

Mrs Stanley, who lives in Brentwood, said it was hard for outsiders to work out who had priority.

Yet…isn’t that the whole point of these sorts of schemes? That without clearly defined boundaries, people are supposed to take more care and use their common se…

Oh. I might have ascertained the problem!

Zulfi Ali, the council’s strategic highways and traffic manager, said: “We are very sorry to hear about this incident.

“Independent reviews have shown the area meets the necessary safety standards.

“However, as part of our road safety initiatives, we continue to monitor all our transportation networks across the borough.”

I think that’s councilese for ‘You’ll be lucky, love!’