Road branded unsafe (From Stroud News and Journal)

Road branded unsafe

A CATASTROPHIC accident similar to the one which killed ten people on a train in Selby, Yorkshire is just waiting to happen outside Stroud, a safety campaigner has claimed.

After a pensioner's Ford Escort rolled through wire fencing on to Cowcombe Hill embankment on Tuesday, January 8, Michael Lawrence told the News & Journal he feared another more serious accident might happen.

"I don't want to jump on the bandwagon after the sentencing of Selby rail disaster driver Gary Hart) but it's there for all to see," said Mr Lawrence.

Gloucestershire County Council is set to put in a barrier for bridge strengthening, rather than safety reasons in March.

In the crash near Chalford earlier this month, the 78-year-old driver from Minchinhampton was believed to have collapsed at the wheel and driven through the wire fence on the south side of the bridge at slow speed.

The car fell between 5ft and 10ft and toppled over the edge where the railway bridge meets the embankment.

Mr Lawrence believes that small section should be protected by something more substantial than a wire fence.

Gloucestershire County Council officials told Mr Lawrence that since 1983, there have been nine serious accidents on that stretch of road but none have involved vehicles on the railway line.

However in October 1987 a car crashed down the embankment at St Mary's Crossing, about a mile to the west along the track. On that occasion crossing keeper Zetty Duncan alerted British Rail and the police and an accident was averted.

"If ever there was a need for a vehicle resistant barrier on a sharp bend at the bottom of a steep hill, this is it," said Mr Lawrence, who lives at Paganhill.

Railtrack spokesman Morag Rickett said: "It's our fence and is not designed to prevent vehicles coming through,"

"We are aware of the issues and we are going to be writing to the highways authority Gloucestershire County Council, suggesting that they may wish to re-examine the site.

*The driver involved in the crash earlier this month was a 78-year-old man from Minchinhampton who was said to be in a "comfortable" condition in Frenchay Hospital, Bristol yesterday.