A FOOTPATH leading out of a Malvern supermarket’s car park is arousing fears over safety.

The path runs uphill from the car park at Waitrose in Malvern towards Worcester Road, and is frequently used by the shop’s customers.

However, during the last week, seemingly as a result of vandalism, a wooden fence separating the path from a drop into the car park below has been broken.

The result is a hazard to the people who use the path, says one regular user.

He said: “The remaining wood is well below knee height. If someone lost their balance and fell against it, it would be well below their centre of gravity and they would go straight over.

“It must be 40 or 50 feet vertically down into the car park below.

“The wooden fences along the whole footpath have been extensively vandalised, but this is one section where it really matters and where action has to be taken because it poses a real hazard.

“I would very much like to see the path closed off to the public while repairs are carried out.

“It might also be a good idea to replace the wooden fence here with something stronger, perhaps a metal barrier, to prevent this kind of problem arising again.”

Although the path is open to the public, it is not thought to be an official public right of way, and is believed to belong to the supermarket.

The path did not exist before Waitrose and its car park were built. The shop was opened in November 1999, and its construction involved the relocation of 50,000 cubic metres of earth.

Waitrose had not provided a comment at the time of going to press.