Cyclist (13) cuts down overgrown bushes that were pushing him on to Falkirk road

Graeme High School pupil Kai Kallus (13) regularly cycles the route – along the B805 Redding Road – to his gran’s house in Laurieston, but in recent weeks bushes coming over the wall at the side of the already very narrow pavement had become so overgrown they made it impossible for people to pass without walking, or cycling, out onto the road.

Kai’s dad Chris (39) said: “Kai is autistic, but that road is a straight route to his gran’s and normally he is okay cycling it.

"In the last couple of weeks he was getting scared to the point of asking me to come with him, because he was so frightened of cycling on the section of the road with the bushes.

"It’s a blind corner at that section and he was having to cycle out onto the road to avoid them.”

Fed up with the situation – and the fact no one, including the local authority, seemed to be coming to trim back the bushes anytime soon – Kai decided to do something about it.

"He just got the garden shears and we headed down to cut it,” said Chris. “There are a couple of private houses on that stretch of the road and people came out and talked to us while we were cutting the bushes.

"They said they had been trying to get Falkirk Council out to cut them for a while.”

Job done, Chris is rightly proud of his lad and wants others to follow his example.

“I know it isn’t our responsibility to do it, but it only took us 20 minutes and it was done. Hopefully this will encourage other people to get out and cut things back – instead of just complaining that the council isn’t doing it, they should actually do it themselves.”

Falkirk Council grounds maintenance looks after all the areas parks and open spaces it owns and has responsibility for cutting grass, weeding shrubs, pruning and hedge cutting and trimming and removing trees – if needed to improve public safety.

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