Call for more action to stop crashes at Shropshire home

A couple who had a tractor smash through their living room in 2020 say they want better road safety outside their house in Shropshire after an increase in problems.

Gemma Jones and Darren Hemming's home is by a sharp bend on Cotwall Lane, High Ercall, and complain there have been four serious incidents since 2015.

Mr Hemming says his van was crushed in June by a lorry carrying livestock.

Telford and Wrekin Council said it was in talks about potential measures.

The authority said it was "aware of concerns around road safety" and was speaking to parish and borough councillors, with ideas including "new signage, resurfacing and road markings".

It added it would also consider "the suitability of the current speed limit, which if changed, would need to be agreed in partnership with the police".

The current speed limit for the stretch by the Jones's village home is 60mph, although in 2021 another part of the B5062 was changed to 50mph amid safety concerns.

Mrs Jones said she felt a speed change would not make a difference and instead suggested speed cameras were a better solution, but had been told they were not possible.

"It makes me angry, very angry," she said.

In 2015, a motorcyclist was killed on the stretch of road by the Jones's house and a year later a car skidded through their garden.

In 2019, a car went through a farmer's hedge opposite their house and into a field, causing significant damage to crops, they said.

But it was the tractor crashing through the living room that worried them most, Mrs Jones said, explaining how one hour before the crash she had been in the room with her son.

"Fortunately there was a chimney there which saved the house.

"[But] somebody else is going to die," she warned.

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