Scaffolding Thingy

I drive along this road all the time but have only ever walked about half way up before now and this is what I've been missing.  This scaffolding is in place where some hand rails should be.  I'm assuming the hand rails were damaged and scaffolding is a quick and cheap replacement.  As I leaned in to get a shot of the rusty joint thingy I noticed there was a cigarette stub and piece of rolled up cardboard in the scaffolding pole; someone had used the inside of the railing as an ashtray and litter bin which reminded me of my gate Blip from 6th April.