Christmas has come early for Mark Wheeler who waited 15 years for the bollards outside his Douglas home to be repainted.

Now, the bollards on Prospect Terrace have been painted a smart shade of blue after the highway division’s contractor turned up at the weekend.

Mr Wheeler faced a brush with the law in the summer after threatening to paint the six bollards himself which he claims are on his property, according to the deeds.

He said he was threatened with arrest and told that anyone who interferes with a post forming part of or placed in or on a highway, shall be guilty of an offence under the Highways Act 1996.

Three months later, and the bollards still not painted, Mr Wheeler contacted the Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer.

DoI maintenance manager Alan Hardinge replied on November 23 saying that the work would be done that weekend. Mr Hardinge wrote: ’I do appreciate that this work has taken longer than anticipated. However, we have followed the correct procurement procedures to engage a suitably qualified contractor.’

He said as part of the process, the DoI had identified 19 locations and a total of 184 bollards around the Douglas area in need of painting. That is indeed a lot of bollards.

Mr Hardinge said about a third of the 184 bollards have now been repainted so far.

Maintenance

In an email to Mr Harmer, Mr Wheeler said: ’The bollards have now been painted and are looking incredible.’

He is urging the DoI to set up a maintenance programme to review the painting of the bollards again in three or five years ’to avoid terse emails in the future and the escalation to the Constabulary’.

Mr Wheeler is now pressing the department to give a date for the repair and resurfacing of the service lane behind his home.

In his email to Mr Harmer, he said: ’I wouldn’t want to be threatened with arrest again should I decide to appoint a Tarmac team to rectify the lane when it is made up and adopted by the DoI - even though the DoI reneges on its responsibilities to maintain it.’