A GOOD Samaritan went the extra mile for his fellow Trowbridge residents after he fixed a fence which had fallen down and was blocking a footpath.

Over the past six months, a six-foot high, 30-foot long fence had been falling further and further into a path which runs between the two sides of Langford Road, and is used by residents including schoolchildren and disabled people.

Local Simon Carter saw that the fence was getting very difficult to skirt round so he contacted his local councillor to do a bit of digging on the issue.

Builder Melvyn King, of Langford Road, took it upon himself to fix the fence, chop down the overhanging branches and save the day.

“I did this to help others in the community. It was affecting a lot of people so I took action,” said Mr King.

“The area needs to be kept tidy. We know someone who uses a mobility scooter and she couldn’t get through when it was blocking the path.

“At the end of the day I was annoyed that nobody owned up to this really. I also chopped away at the overgrown branches and brambles, which would have cost £800 or so. It went on for many months, getting worse and worse, so I thought, enough is enough.“The owner of the property was told a long time ago about this but nothing was done.”

Gary Miles, who lives at the property, said Selwood Housing contacted him to get the repairs done but he said he couldn’t because of health issues. “I was trying to sort out getting it repaired when I heard some activity from the alleyway. When I went to see what it was two of my neighbours were trimming back the overhanging trees and also fixed the fence back up, for which I was very grateful,” he said.

“Yes, Selwood Housing did contact me and I tried getting the repairs done on my house insurance, to no avail.

“To be honest As I have ongoing health issues I would have found it hard to do this work myself, which makes me even more grateful to these two kind people.”

Mr Carter said that the whole thing took too long to sort out.

“There needs to be better communication because it was a real nuisance,” he said.

“People were getting hit in the face by the brambles and people with mobility scooters couldn’t even get down here. We don’t ask for much.”

A Selwood Housing spokesman said: “This is a privately owned residence, with responsibility for the fencing in question.”

“Upon investigation of this matter, Selwood Housing wrote to the owner of the property, where we advised that the rear garden fence was causing an obstruction to the footpath. We requested that the owner take action to repair the fence. “We also confirmed their legal obligation to do so.”