Dangerous junction

We have a major problem with a local road junction that will soon result in a road traffic accident, and injury or even death.

There is a pedestrian refuge in Canterbury Road, near the junction with Charles Street. The position of the refuge seems to make it difficult for some longer vehicles to turn left from Canterbury Road into Charles Street.

Over the last few weeks, we have recorded several videos of vehicles (all of them PCL lorries) driving dangerously and illegally at this junction. What you can see is the lorry driving down the wrong side of the road into the oncoming traffic, or looping all the way round the junction, simply to be able to make the turn:

http://www.youtube.com/user/EastCliffPanel

The major culprit at the moment is PCL - these are the delivery lorries for the Herne Bay branch of Iceland. (Iceland do not have a direct email address, so I have contacted them through their website.) It is worth noting that dustcarts also have problems at this junction, as do the heavy plant vehicles associated with local building work.

As you will see on the YouTube videos that we have recorded, the PCL lorries repeatedly carry out dangerous manoeuvres. This recently almost resulted in a head-on collision, which you can see in the most recent video:

Kent Highways have told me that this junction isn't a high enough priority, as it doesn't have a crash history. It is blindingly obvious that continued inaction will all but guarantee that it will have a "crash history". I've sent them a link to the videos. I've also sent a link to PCL, the Police, and our county councillors.

Let's hope they sort something out before someone gets hurt.

"Grotesquely selfish" arsonist gets 2 years

An arsonist who torched his flat in a fit of rage showed a "grotesque disregard" for the lives of young children and an elderly deaf pensioner, a court heard. Samuel Dudley, 22, was jailed for four years at Canterbury Crown Court after the judge heard he deliberately disabled a fire alarm before using a lighter to set fire to his sofa, duvet and clothes.

On January 11, terrified parents were forced to scoop up their children in the dead of night and race from the Canterbury Road building as smoke billowed around them. Initially fire crews feared Dudley was trapped inside and risked their lives trying to save him – until they realised he had set the blaze himself and then left.

Dudley claimed he was depressed at being evicted from the flat and admitted recklessly endangering life through arson. Donna East, prosecuting, said Dudley called his girlfriend Abbey Middlebrook after starting the blaze. She said:

"He went to see her and said 'I have burned my flat. I don't know why, I need help. No one can help me'."

In the meantime his sister and mother, who had gone to see him, saw the smoke and dialled 999. A deaf elderly lady slept through most of the commotion and was only awoken by the constant ringing of her doorbell.

Dudley told police he was angry at being evicted for rent arrears, and after drinking three pints of lager starting throwing things about the flat. He said that after using his lighter to start three separate fires, he "expected it to burn down", and left "without telling the other occupants". Peter Forbes, defending, said Dudley had lost his job and was worried about money. He said:

"His personal circumstances were getting on top of him and this led him into a despairing mood. There were young children in the flats and he is a father of two young children aged three and two who live with their mother, so he understood what risk that was."

Judge James said:

"This was a grotesquely selfish act which put entirely innocent people at risk. If this was a cry for help as your defence suggests, it was an extremely reckless act with callous disregard for anyone but yourself."

Dudley will serve half his sentence, less six months he has served already, but he will be released "under licence" for a further four years – so if he reoffends in that time he will be forced to complete his full sentence.

HB Times 23rd Jun 2011