A Broxtowe woman was left terrified after a car smashed into her Stapleford home – for a sixth time.
Margaret Lawson has lived on Ilkeston Road for 23 years. But the positioning of her bungalow has left it vulnerable to passing by vehicles, as her driveway is accessed directly off the small roundabout connecting Ilkeston Road and Coventry Lane.
Storm Goretti’s battering of the UK, which started last Thursday evening (January 8), brought further bad luck for Ms Lawson’s home.
At around 1am on January 9, a driver travelling along Coventry Lane skidded in the snowy conditions, lost control of the car on the roundabout and crashed into Ms Lawson’s bedroom wall – the sixth time a vehicle has crashed into her home.
Ms Lawson says the driver had avoided the metal crash barrier outside her home – installed several years ago for better safety from vehicles – by “inches”.
She said: “That night they said we were going to have high winds and I was absolutely terrified… I heard things might be better after 11pm that night so I went to bed.
“About an hour later there was this terrible bang out here and I still thought it was the storm.
“Their car was embedded in here [bedroom wall]. It wasn’t the high winds that I was expecting, it was a car in the wall.”
Speaking on the event happening for a sixth time, Ms Lawson said: “I was absolutely terrified, I thought ‘I’ve got to get out of this house’ and get a flat somewhere.
“I worry because the barrier didn’t work this time. They put that up to prevent cars coming into the house, but the driver decided to go inches the other way and brought the carport down.”
The carport, a brick, overhead shelter for a car, outside her home was left in pieces all over her driveway from the incident and there are “cracks all over” her bedroom wall from where the car hit.
Ms Lawson says “it’s getting more dangerous nowadays” with the cars travelling right outside her home.
Broxtowe Borough Councillor, Richard MacRae (Ind) said: “It’s a minority of people, most drive responsibly, but you always get the odd one or two driving dangerously.
“There’s a lot of development in that area so the area’s getting a lot busier and a lot of lorries are using that way.
“Some people have suggested traffic lights would maybe work to slow traffic down. It’s a mini roundabout so there’s a lot of bigger vehicles that go over it and don’t go around it – something needs looking at to make it safer.”
Cllr MacRae is hoping Nottinghamshire County Council – the responsible highway authority – will use developer financial contributions, including money from the Field Farm development, to make road improvements in the area.
He added: “It’s a really busy pedestrian route as well, with school kids. If that had been in the daytime during school we’d be talking about a different situation.
“The barrier was put up years ago when a car went through the side of the house.”
Ms Lawson says she “can’t see the council doing anything” to improve the safety outside her home.
Councillor Bert Bingham, cabinet member for transport and environment at Nottinghamshire County Council, said in a statement: “We are concerned to learn of the recent collision on Ilkeston Road in Stapleford, which has resulted in damage to a resident’s property. We fully appreciate how distressing this must be and remain committed to addressing concerns regarding safety in the area.
“Back in 2009, the council implemented a comprehensive safety improvement scheme at this location, which included crash barriers, hi-visibility yellow-backed signage, additional road lining and anti-skid surfacing.
“Despite these measures, we understand that this recent event has understandably caused renewed concerns.
“Collisions are initially investigated by the police and once their investigation is complete, we will carefully review their findings to determine whether any further improvements can be made to help prevent similar incidents in future -the safety and wellbeing of our residents remain at the heart of everything we do.”
