Carers denied access to disabled man by road workers

4:02pm Monday 14th November 2011
By Adam Binnie »

The mother of a disabled man has branded workers from Hertfordshire Highways “morons” after his carers were denied access to their home.

Margaret Federico of Rickmansworth Road relies on the help of two carers to look after her son Romualdo who has cerebral palsy.

When they arrived for work on Thursday evening they were met with a road block, told they would not be allowed into the street, and to go away.

A road closure, allowing access to residents only, has been put in place to protect workers resurfacing the street.

Ms Federico said: “They explained that they were carers of my son who lives in the road but they were told ‘you and everyone else, get on your way’.

“They finally called us more than than an hour later and I had to tell her a different route to take.

I’ve told them next time to ask the manager’s name and threaten to call the police.

“Social services are cutting back on the care the provided any so it’s hard enough to get help without morons like that telling them they can’t come through.”

Romualdo, 19, uses a wheelchair and is dependent on his mother and carers. In the evening they help to get him washed, dressed and into bed.

Ms Federico said: “I have just recovered from an injury during an operation, I have a permanent spinal condition, so I can’t do everything for him.

“It’s not just Romauldo, without the carers it is ten times worse for the whole the family.”

Jo Brown, council spokesman, said the work last week was the final phase, including high friction surfacing, replacing the white lines and cleaning the drains.

She added: “We wrote to residents in advance of the main resurfacing works to warn them that while the works were underway there would be times when it would not be possible to provide them access to their properties.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this caused, but the works had to be carried out under a full road closure for the safety of both road users and our workers.”

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/9362930.