LAST month, a group of four men with a large trailer-mounted machine were cleaning the pavement at the south end of St Andrewgate.

They were the gumbusters.

They were working for more than an hour and cleaned about 60 metres of pavement. All the time their machine was belching large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and stinking up the whole neighbourhood with toxic diesel exhaust fumes.

A couple of years ago, at the other end of St Andrewgate, one person using a small, but powerful, portable machine cleaned a similar area of pavement in about the same length of time. The only apparent difference was that this person took care not to disturb the grouting between the paving stones too much. In contrast, the so-called gumbusters scoured out a significant part of the grouting which has helped to keep the pavement stable and even for decades.

Now some of the paving stones are moving when stepped on - the first step in a relentless process of decline leading to disintegration of the pavement. Damaged, irregular pavements are a danger to pedestrians, particularly the elderly, and lead to further heavy expense for repair.

Ironically, the gumbusting job is a temporary solution and already there are quite a few lumps of gum on this stretch of pavement.

What a waste of our tax money and with such awful cost in pollution and damage. Is there nothing we can do to rein in crazy city departments who are running wild with our money and doing so much harm?

David Waggott,

St Andrewgate, York.

Updated: 09:57 Thursday, March 10, 2005