High praise for highways team

Pride in Oldham nominees Highways Operations, left to right, Carl McManus, Stephen Aikman (manager), Michael Bowes.

WHEN gallons of water began flooding into the basement of a home in Grotton, its owners didn’t know where to turn.

Nick Froggatt (57) and his son Chris (25) were left in the nightmare situation last year when a water main burst under their house in Grotton during engineering works in the area.

The basement of the house, which was undergoing renovations, was left flooded with 3ft of water at its worst, leaving the house uninhabitable.

The family contacted everyone they could think of to help, but it was only when their local councillor Adrian Alexander pointed them in the direction of the Highways Team at Oldham Council they found a solution to their problems.

Within five minutes of visiting the house, highways operations manager Stephen Aikman and his team found what was causing the issue and set about rectifying it for the family.

Nick said: “We were so upset and nobody seemed to want to take responsibility for what had happened.

“But as soon as we contacted Stephen Aikman they were on the scene and couldn’t do enough for us — even though it wasn’t their problem to fix.

“Stephen called me every day to check on the work and how it was progressing.

“He even gave me advice and help when I tried to resolve the issue with the people who had caused the issue.

“I can’t thank them enough for the care and support they gave us.

“In my opinion this is exactly the type of community support that should be celebrated in the Pride awards as they went the extra mile for us.”

Stephen and his team, including Carl McManus and Michael Bowes, were delighted to be told they had been nominated.

He said: “We are really happy to have been nominated.

“It is great to know that we have made a difference to Nick and his family.

“Highways gets some bad press so it is very is satisfying to be recognised for something positive.”

email: lucykenderdine@oldham-chronicle.co.uk