Dear Messenger
I returned home on Friday 17th June to a letter from Burngreave Sports Network (BSN) telling me the Mile Run would be coming along Scott Road and the road was to be closed between 9.30am and 12.00pm on Sunday 19th. This was the first notice we had the run was to come anywhere near Scott Road, let alone close it completely. The bottom of the letter said, “Please note all public buses have been rerouted during the race.”
We could not believe the short notice we had been given to move our cars. To where? Every side road is full with residents’ cars! Later that evening a council notice outlining the closures appeared on a side road. It stated permission for the closures had been granted on May 13th.
I rang BSN who had no explanation why we had only just been informed. I explained that I am on call from work and may need to get off Scott Road at short notice. I was told as long as I found a marshal I would be allowed out but not back until the racing had finished.
Did the organisers realise the race day was Father’s Day? Off Scott Road is a Nursing Home and Elderly Persons’ sheltered housing. How were visitors expected to visit their relatives or relatives’ graves in the cemetery when their only means of getting there is public transport?
We do not have any problem with the Mile Run closing Scott Road, all we are asking for is better communication about events that close our roads!
Name and address withheld