RESIDENTS of an elderly people's housing complex in Salisbury say the bus shelter in their road gives no shelter at all when it rains because it has been put up the wrong way round.

The people of Hedley Davis Court, Cherry Orchard Lane, all of whom are in their 60s, 70s or 80s, regularly get wet waiting for buses because the shelter is open to the road.

Resident Ray Burton told the Journal that Councillor Beryl Jay, who died last year, fought for a shelter in the lane because she was concerned about elderly people having to stand in the rain at the bus stop.

But, he says, it was put up the wrong way round and he has been trying ever since to get the council to alter it.

"I was told they couldn't change it because the pavement was too narrow and buggies would not be able to get past," said Mr Burton (64).

"But there would still be room for ladies with buggies to get past and, anyway, people waiting for buses would always respect a mother with a buggy and stand to one side to let her pass.

"I was also told that the shelter could not be at the edge of the pavement due to the risk of lorries with wide loads hitting it.

"But wide loads wouldn't come down the road because they couldn't get under the railway bridges.

"I would like the council people to stand in Cherry Orchard Lane for a quarter of an hour in the pouring rain and they would find out how wet you get."

Marc Samways, senior traffic engineer with the Salisbury joint transportation team, said the issue was not so much which way round the shelter was but its closeness to the road.

Current standards meant the council tried not to put any street furniture within 450mm of a road because of the risk of vehicles with wide loads or wing mirrors hitting and damaging it.

He said it was possible the shelter was put in the way it was because of the width of the footpath - the council tried to allow 1.5m for people to pass safely with pushchairs or in a wheelchair.

He added that the team was looking to replace a number of bus shelters within the city centre area.

"The reason the Cherry Orchard Lane shelter is not providing much protection is due to its small size and exposed location," he said.

"The new style of shelter is bigger with a larger roof span, so it gives more shelter.