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'Defective' road surfaces to be relaid in Fleet

By Stephen Lloyd
January 15, 2013

THREE roads in Fleet are to be resurfaced after highway chiefs ruled the previous repair work was sub-standard.

Hampshire County Council has told its contractor Amey to start again after declaring the recent resurfacing of Kings Road, Montrose Close and The Aloes was "defective".

Fleet county councillor Sharyn Wheale said she brought up the matter with highway chiefs after being shocked at the state of Kings Road, where work was completed early last month.

“Following a number of complaints from residents about the state of the new surface being laid on Kings Road, Montrose Close and The Aloes I called for a site inspection with Hampshire County Council officers and the contractor,” she added.

“I took loads of photographs and took them to an urgent meeting with the county council at Winchester. I told them that the standard of workmanship on all three roads was not acceptable and the county council agreed that the finished treatment does not meet the necessary specification requirements of the contract. It is defective and has therefore been rejected.”

In an open email to residents, the council said the micro asphalt thin surface was laid as part of its 2012/13 surface treatments programme and carried out by its highways team maintenance contractor, Amey.

The county council added that following a site inspection and subsequent discussions with the contractor it has decided the finished treatment did not meet the necessary specification requirements of the contract.

The email described the work as “defective”, adding: “Amey have accepted that the new surface does not meet contractual standards.

“The remedial works to rectify this will include the total removal of the surface, at the contractors expense, and an alternative surfacing material laid in its place.

“This replacement work is weather dependant and now that we are in the winter months the site will be monitored to ensure it remains in a safe and suitable condition.”

The county council said it anticipated the remedial works will be carried out this spring or summer.

It added: “In the meantime the road markings will be replaced along Kings Road.

“However, the lines associated with the new cycle way will not be installed and the cycleway signing along Kings Road will also not be installed until we resurface the carriageway in 2013.

“I must apologise for the inconvenience these defective works may have caused you.”

The cost of re-doing the work is not yet known.

A spokesman for Amey said: “The resurfacing works on Kings Road, Fleet, were undertaken by an established Amey sub-contractor. Unfortunately, it has since been agreed that the materials and finish do not meet the required specification, therefore the surface is to be replaced.”

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Most recent user comments 3 of 3

The recent surface relaying along Kings Road in Fleet is not just sub-standard, it's a complete and utter case of defective workmanship! When Amey laid the new tar surface, they clearly did not allow enough time for the tar to dry and as a result, most of the cars that frequently use Kings road have tar spray all over the cars. A local panel beater has quoted over £550.00 to remove the tar spray and stains from my wife’s car. Speaking to the local car wash lads at the bottom of Kings Road as well as the car wash company along Albert Road, they themselves have said they have noticed hundreds of vehicles in the past few months with the same damage and they simply cannot remove the tar spray with conventional cleaning!! I blame Hart Council for not monitoring their contractors closely enough. Who is going to pay for the damage to my wife’s car? Hart Council ?

Fleet Residents
06/04/2013 at 17:04

And more disruption for motorists and residents. Perhaps some compensation for the residents on the roads concerned, or maybe even offering to come and wipe off the tar splashes off the cars that went down the roads whilst they were being resurfaced?

Wanttomaketheplacebetter
15/01/2013 at 18:17

As usual the buck is passed from HCC to contractor to sub-contractor.

There is a clue in the noun - CONTRACTor.

I assume that there are provisions in the main HCC Amey contract for the qulaity of work.

I further assume that there is a back to back contract with materially similar terms between AMEY and their "established sub contractor".

I would also expect the contract chain to require for the works to be inspected and signed off up the chain as being fit for purpose and compliant with the relevant specifcation(s).

The inspections by AMEY and the sub-cxontractor seem to have allowed the work to be offered to HCC as "job done".

So whilst there did not appear to be any quality control exercised by at least two of the three parties, i hope that cost of the remedial repairs do not fall to HCC.

Indeed if the contract between H C C and AMEY is a really professional one, there should be provision under a service level and / or material default to allow for H C C to recover more than repair costs from AMEY.

It should not fall to residents and councilllors to get H C C to discharge their duty of care.