Council faces crash cash claims

Telford & Wrekin Council could face paying out thousands of pounds over a stretch of country road claimed to be the "bermuda triangle" of Shropshire.Solicitors are planning claims for four people who crashed at the Walton bends, on the B5063 near High Ercall. They believe the road just west of the hamlet is so bad, and has been for several years, that the authority is liable.

A Walton resident has also revealed he has kept evidence of 27 incidents there since March 2005.

Shrewsbury solicitor Angela Manley says the bends were also the site of a crash on January 12 that killed postmen Ralph Brown, 34, of Wem, and Paul Murray, 21, of Hanmer.

They died when their Skoda Fabia left off the road just outside Walton as they travelled between Shawbury and High Ercall.

Mrs Manley, from Hatchers solicitors, is collecting cases of people who have crashed there and is preparing four insurance claims.

She said the amount of compensation was uncertain but was likely to be thousands of pounds in each case.

The more people that come forward the stronger the case will be that the road layout itself is dangerous, she added.

She said accounts from the people who had contacted her were that they were driving normally and at sensible speed and the vehicles "just veered out of control".

Mrs Manley is working with Paul Wiseman, an Oswestry-based private investigator, who can be contacted through www.wisemaninvestigations.com

The people she is already representing include motorists from Newport and Rodington who suffered injuries last autumn.

Meanwhile, a long-time resident in Walton, who does not want to be named, has revealed a list he has kept of evidence of incidents at the bends since March 2005.

Telford & Wrekin Council said signs and slow markings had been put on the road and it was resurfaced five years ago.

It claims a skidding resistance test a year ago suggested it was not slippery.

List of incidents since 2005:

Late March: Car gone into field.

23: Car gone into field.

2006:

January 10: Car in hedge.

January 31: Vehicle in hedge.

March 26: Car in ditch.

April 1: Car in hedge.

April 25: Car in field.

May 16: Post knocked down.

May 23: Evidence of vehicle through hedge.

August 30: Evidence of vehicle in ditch.

September 2: Hedge damaged.

October 2: Vehicle in hedge.

October 9: Car in field.

Late October: Evidence of two accidents.

November 24: Debris in ditch.

December 6: 4x4 in field.

Late December: Accident near sign.

2007:

July 15: Evidence of smash.

July 21: Car through hedge.

Late August: Evidence in hedge.

September 18: Apparent two-car crash.

October 27: Evidence of vehicle in hedge.

November 20: Van in hedge.

November 21: Evidence of vehicle in hedge.

November 22: Vehicle in hedge.

December 6: Car in field