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Search forMan's drain dilemma is unlocked by council hero
Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 12:55
But, thanks to a dedicated workman, the 55-year-old was saved the task of changing all his locks.
Mr Gray, from Combe Down, had stopped to buy a sandwich , and had parked in Lorne Road off Lower Bristol Road.
As he got out of his car, his key ring containing his home, office and two car keys dropped into a drain by the kerb.
Realising that it would be costly to have them all replaced, he set about trying to find someone who could get them back.
The married father of two, who runs a legal firm, said: "I had heard that the fire brigade can often help you out with things like that so I gave them a ring, but they didn't want to know.
"Then I tried Wessex Water but they said it was nothing to do with them."
Running out of ideas, he decided to approach Bath and North East Somerset Council.
Mr Gray said: "I didn't really hold out much hope. I left a message and thought that would be the end of it. I just thought, 'that's typical!'."
But the next day he received a phone call from a worker known only as Steve who arranged to meet him at the drain, unlock it and pull up his keys.
However, when they arrived, Steve realised that the drain was concreted in and it could not be opened in the normal way.
Mr Gray thought his hopes had been dashed but he took a call the next day to say the drain had been dug up, the keys rescued, and the drain re-concreted.
He said: "The council's effort has saved me £400 and this has 100 per cent changed my view of them, without a doubt.
"Nobody's got a good word to say about them usually, but they came to my rescue."
The council has been unable to trace "Steve", and it is not clear whether he works for B&NES or its highways contractor, Atkins.
A council spokesman said: "We aspire to be responsive to the needs of our customer."
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