A TRANSPORT campaigner has decided to repair issues surrounding a problem local road HIMSELF after becoming frustrated by a lack of action.
Archie Burleigh decided to take matters into his own hands after roads bosses failed to respond to his call for works on the busy shore commuter route between Largs and Skelmorlie.
He asked for a flooding hazard on the A78 to be fixed before winter arrives before attempted to clear a drain blocked by sludge at the side of the road himself.
But Mr Burleigh was left shocked when he was warned by roads officials NOT to get involved.
With colder temperatures meaning the road regularly freezes over, the Meigle resident says he has repeatedly pleaded with roads authorities to try and resolve the slippery problem for drivers.
Mr Burleigh said: “The first section of the carrier drain from the small gully at the north side of the entrance is full of sludge. 
“I rodded 23 metres along the pipe and it was heavy going. I did not have enough rods to reach the next gully and in particular didn’t want to venture on to the highway. 
“The carrier pipe obviously badly needs jetting thoroughly and flushed through. I’ve asked for this to be arranged but heard nothing back.
“The issue has nothing to do with the adjacent field as the pool behind the wall is a large sump/catchpit.
“I cleaned out the gully at the Quarter entrance to negate any problems for the roads teams.”
The problem is specifically at Quarter on the A78 and regularly leads to surface water appearing on the road, but road authorities say that a third party who owns the adjacent land is helping to sort out the matter.
Gordon Coppard, Network Area Engineer for Scotland Transerv told the activist that he was putting the public at risk by carrying out works under his own steam,
In a letter to Mr Burleigh, he said: “Our route engineer reported that the cause of the surface water was seepage through the wall from third party land.
“The owner has been contacted and has agreed to carry out work to prevent this from occurring again.
“I must stress however that you must refrain from carrying out any work on the trunk road network.
“Not only are you putting yourself at risk, you are potentially risking the safety of the travelling public.
“You also do not have any permission to carry out any work on Transport Scotland assets.
“If you have any concern with regards to any defects, please follow the correct procedures and call into the operation control room.
“With regards to the carrier pipe jetting, I will pass this information to our delivery manager for this to be carried out during the next gully cleaning operation.”
Mr Burleigh told the News that the long-standing issue needs tackled before a cold snap arrives.
He says: “The problem is that the filter media is contaminated with weeds at its south end, adjacent to the entrance of Quarter farm. 
“The field has always drained into this roadside system and the old cross road field culverts are also used by your roadside drainage systems.
“Most of the culverts have been damaged at there upstream ends by the utility companies putting in fibre optic ducts and not repairing same as works proceed.
“We just need to get the drain cleared before some poor motorist skids or crashes on ice when this water freezes.
“We are reaching the borderline time for quite heavy frost and it needs sorted.”