Graham Topham, 52, and wife Lorraine, 51, have to wait between five and 10 minutes for Boston's busy Sleaford Road to be clear enough for them and their disabled son Richard, 30.

This is because a newly-constructed traffic island close to their Ashton Hall Drive home is too narrow to accommodate two of them.

Mr Topham said: "I find it pretty disgusting in this day and age when government buildings and so on have got to have disabled access, and many shops go out of their way for disabled people, that local councils can't be bothered to think about people who are disabled and wheelchair-bound."

The couple make regular visits to the shops on the other side of Sleaford Road, up to four times a week. Richard, who has a mental age of nine months, can't be left alone.

After crossing the road the couple then have to contend with an uneven and damaged footpath barely wide enough for the wheelchair, as they go over the bridge. Often, Mr Topham, says, the front wheels of his son's chair catch in the ruts of the path.

Mr Topham said the hardest part of caring for a disabled adult was completing the day-to-day physical tasks, such as helping Richard in and out of a bath.

He said these kinds of oversights by local authorities just make life that bit harder.

Mr Topham complained to Lincolnshire County Council six months ago, but was told it was a matter for Boston Borough Council.

There, Mr Topham says, he received a half-an-hour lecture on how expensive it is to repair footpaths and pavements.

"I felt quite irritated," Mr Topham remembers. "After five minutes I thought: 'I am being shrugged off here, they don't really want to know'."

A spokesman for Boston Borough Council said they were unable to find a record of a conversation with Mr Topham, but stressed the responsibility for footpath maintenance resided with Lincolnshire County Council.

Lincolnshire County Council's principal highways officer Hamish McConchie said: "We are fully aware of some outstanding works on this scheme, including footways and the width of traffic islands, and are sensitive to the needs of all users. A meeting is shortly taking place to identify how we can best address these matters and we offer our reassurance that all potential solutions will be fully investigated."