Scottish Water road closure: 'Cars abandoned on A78'

One road user branded the situation on Wednesday as "not great".

He told the News: "I thought this road was supposed to be closed from Thursday night. People are having to abandon their cars and walk home at midnight is not a great situation."

Independent North Coast councillor Ian Murdoch also expressed his disappointment that he personally didn't receive information from Scottish Water regarding the closure to broadcast the matter to his constituents.

With Amey carrying out a series of road closures starting from tonight, Cllr Murdoch said that he, as well as many other constituents, were unaware of last night's closure, and were caught out by the situation.

Roadworks closure signs facing motorists last night who had to abandon vehicles and walk home, according to residents on online forum (Image: Submitted)

Mr Murdoch said: "This is obviously why there was so much confusion with the signs and queries about the dates.

"I checked with North Ayrshire Council roads yesterday and I was assured that the closure started on October 3.

"This was absolutely correct regarding the Amey works.

Cllr Ian Murdoch said he received no notice over Scottish Water roadworks last night, and many of his constituents were impacted by the closure (Image: Newsquest)

"However, I would have expected much more effort from Scottish Water to notify everyone of the closure with such a huge impact.

"I have searched my emails and have had no notice of this closure.

"It is not productive and not acceptable to my mind and we needed much more notice of this; everyone knew about the works starting tonight, but why wasn't the information about last night's closure given out at the same time so people could be well prepared for it?

"It has affected constituents lives and we really should have received much more notice about these works."

Scottish Water's overnight road closure was part of an ongoing £2 million upgrade to North Ayrshire's water network, as reported on the Largs and Millport News, and Greenock Telegraph websites, on Tuesday morning.

Restrictions were in place on Shore Road just before Rothesay Court coming from the ferry terminal on Wednesday, October 2 through to Thursday, October 3.   

Work took place under two-way traffic lights during the day and the road closure was in place from 11pm on Wednesday until Thursday at 6am.

Scottish Water said that the work was being carried out in conjunction with Amey’s resurfacing programme for the area.

On Tuesday morning, the publicly-owned utility company had advised that all necessary steps were taken to keep disruption to a minimum, and thanked impacted road users for their ongoing patience and cooperation.

A Scottish Water spokesperson said: "We are sorry to hear about the issues our customers have experienced.

"Scottish Water took several steps to communicate with the community ahead of the work. This included a direct letter drop to nearby residents, two posts on both Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), and a press release shared with local media, which was picked up by outlets such as Largs and Millport News.

"The work was successfully completed in coordination with Amey's resurfacing project, and Amey also ensured that advanced signage was updated to reflect the overnight road closure associated with our work.

"We understand and appreciate the concerns raised by local residents. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused and have taken these concerns into account as we continue our efforts to enhance the resilience and quality of the water supply in North Ayrshire."

Meanwhile, Amey are carrying on with overnight road closures and a full closure during the day on Sunday at Skelmorlie.

Essential resurfacing will take place ​on the A78 at Skelmorlie, between Station Road and Heywood Gardens, from Thursday, October 3 until Sunday, October 6.

Amey, who undertake maintenance on the trunk road on behalf of Transport Scotland, say that there will be a daytime closure on October 6, as well as overnight closures.

The details are as follows:

Phase one: Overnight closures between Heywood Gardens and north of the Station Road junction will be in effect from Thursday, October 3 until Sunday, October 6 between the hours of 9pm and 6am each night.

Phase two: Total daytime road closure between Longhill and Eglington Terrace on Sunday, October 6 between 6am and 9pm.

Three-way temporary traffic lights will be in operation at Longhill Junction to manage the sharp turn from Shore Road and to accommodate the site traffic exit. Church access will be maintained.