The 75-year-old woman who carried out her own pothole repairs in Halkirk has admitted she was “gobsmacked” by the level of media interest she attracted.
Jenny Paterson was so fed up with the state of the road outside her house that she decided to fix it herself, and the story was picked up by national newspapers and BBC Radio Scotland after being reported in the John O’Groat Journal two weeks ago.
She also had a request to appear on ITV’s Good Morning Britain but turned it down.
Mrs Paterson is now keen to move on, having “got a result” – after Highland Council workers arrived this week to resurface the uneven section of road outside her home in the village’s Bridge Street.
“It needed done and it has been done – and it has been done far better than even I expected,” she said.
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Armed with a rake, a spade, a bucket and a shovel, Mrs Paterson had spent about three-and-a-half hours on her “temporary fill-in”, despite medical advice not to do any heavy lifting.
She was joined by a younger neighbour, Jen MacDonald, in clearing grit and gravel from a drain and carrying it in a bucket to fill holes.
On Monday, the road workers arrived to carry out proper repairs.
“The chaps were really brilliant,” Mrs Paterson said.
“They were with their potholing machine and everything. The foreman said, ‘This is an absolute disgrace.’
“It’s amazing what they’ve done. They’ve done an entire length of two houses, dug it out and put in a beautiful piece of new road.
“Now the whole village is saying, ‘Why have we got potholes and you’ve got yours filled in?’ I said stick your head above the parapet, please – I’m not doing it.”
Mrs Paterson’s house is across from a busy shop on the corner of Sinclair Street and Bridge Street.
“It’s almost like a layby on the main road. It’s where everybody parks to go to the shop,” she explained.
“I have no problem with people parking, but it was just eroding and eroding and it was getting to the point where it was ridiculous.
“Everyone will be happy – they’ve got somewhere nice to park and I’ve got a bit that the water runs off. It’s much more than I expected.”
Mrs Paterson admitted the national media interest had caught her unawares.
“I just was gobsmacked. It kept going and going,” she said.
“It just went mental, it was just ridiculous. I drew the line at filming, and Good Morning Britain and all the rest of it. I don’t watch ITV.
“Hopefully it’s all over and done with. I gave an interview on BBC Radio Scotland on Tuesday morning, just a final thank-you.
“I was absolutely taken aback. But thanks for the initial interest. It worked – and it’s amazing, the power of the media. It was the local media that kicked it all off. You took the story up.
“I’m quite happy that I’ve got a result. I’m absolutely over the moon with it.”
She added: “I’m poking into no more potholes.”
Mrs Paterson’s son Rory (51) said: “We were totally shocked at how quickly and how far this story spread. From the initial contact with our local paper, within a few days it was everywhere.
“The Times and Guardian had articles, Radio Scotland got in touch… It seems just about every paper in the country got in on it.
“There are some really nice articles, a few interesting tabloid takes and a small amount of negative comments, but I would like to point out that my mum didn’t set out with any plan. She just did it quietly, and when I saw what she was doing I contacted the local press thinking it would be a fun story with a serious point.
“It obviously hit a national nerve, given the response we have had.
“Mum was also shocked at how quickly the council got in touch and repaired it. Not only that but it was done to a high standard and much better than she thought it would be.
“She was out getting a bit of light-hearted banter with the workmen, as she knows this is nothing to do with them.
“I can see more people in towns and villages taking matters into their own hands, which the council won’t like – but complaining doesn’t work and people have just had enough.
“We are happy with the response and work done but it would be even better if all this unexpected publicity lands on someone’s desk who can actually sort out all of our roads.
“It should be embarrassing to someone in the Scottish Government that we have the North Coast 500 with altered road signs saying ‘Welcome to the Moon’.”
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