A RESTAURANT owner is blaming the council for neglecting an Ipswich street after an elderly woman fell on the cracked pavement outside his eatery.Freddy Youssef, of Acropolis Restaurant, on Upper Orwell Street, says he has had enough of the run down street and demands the council clean it up.

A RESTAURANT owner is blaming the council for neglecting an Ipswich street after an elderly woman fell on the cracked pavement outside his eatery.

Freddy Youssef, of Acropolis Restaurant, on Upper Orwell Street, says he has had enough of the run down street and demands the council clean it up.

He said: "It was last Friday that an elderly woman was passing the front of the restaurant when her shoe got trapped in a crack in the pavement and she fell over.

"I ran out of the restaurant to help her and she started to have a go at me for letting the pavement get into such a bad state."

Although Mr Youssef explained that it was the council's responsibility to look after the pavement, he says the incident has made him concerned for the safety of passers by.

He said: "That woman will go home and tell her friends and family not to come down here because it is not safe.

"And I don't blame her as I have become really concerned for the safety of my customers when they leave.

"It is not just the cracked pavement that is making it unsafe. The street is very rarely cleaned, has very little street lighting and no security cameras."

Mr Youssef is demanding an answer from the council as to why he pays his taxes and yet does not see the same standard as the other streets in the town centre.

He says he has become so concerned about the state of the street that he has put off an expensive refurbishment to Acropolis.

He added: "It makes me wonder why the council are so content to let the street get into such a bad state. It is as if they are trying to force us all to leave."

An Ipswich council spokesman said: "We are sorry to hear of this lady's accident and have sent an engineer out immediately to assess the situation.

"We do carry out regular checks because public safety is paramount but we have no record of any complaints about this area."

nDo you think the council is doing enough in Upper Orwell Street? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk