RESIDENTS have raised serious safety concerns after yobs smashed tiles off the walls at an underpass.

The walkway running from Luncies Road to Wickford Avenue, Pitsea, was targeted, leaving broken tiles across the pathway and making it unsafe for pedestrians and dog walkers and schoolchildren from St Teresa’s Primary School and Basildon Upper Academy.

Concerned resident Ash Drake, 36, said: “I don’t see why people have to do things like that, it’s unsafe with all the sharp broken tiles on the ground.

“I walk my dog that way, obviously with the broken tiles on the ground it wasn’t safe to go through so we had to take a different route.

“I think the council should definitely consider CCTV in the underpass as people are worried about using it.”

He said not using the underpass added between ten and 15 minutes to his journey.

He said it could cause people to cross busy roads unsafely if they cannot use the underpass, which would put lives at risk.

It comes just a few weeks after Labour councillors were calling for CCTV to improve safety at underpasses across Pitsea.

In October, Labour councillor Andrew Ansell proposed £350,000 to be spent straight away on CCTV and improved lighting for Pitsea town centre and underpasses leading to Pitsea station in a bid to improve safety.

Highways workers were due to attend to the site on January 14.

A spokesman for Essex Highways said: “Thank you to those who reported damage here. Our engineers will visit and work to make the subway safe by clearing the debris in the first instance pending further repairs.”