PICTURES: Peak District pub plagued by crashes calls for change

Four '˜terrifying' crashes in just 24 hours happened at a Peak District pub over the weekend because of bad weather and now the owner says the county council must do more.
The manager of the Royal Oak is calling on the county council to do more to prevent crashesThe manager of the Royal Oak is calling on the county council to do more to prevent crashes
The manager of the Royal Oak is calling on the county council to do more to prevent crashes

Dominic Brown is the manager at The Royal Oak in Hurdlow and feels the situation is getting serious now and wants it tackled.

The 42-year-old said: “The Royal Oak may sadly be the most dangerous in Derbyshire because the road by the pub is a fatality or serious accident waiting to happen.

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“It is only luck that no one has been severely hurt but it is just a matter of time. In bad weather the road becomes an ice rink and people drive too fast with the tight bend they just lose control of their cars.”

Since the New year there have seven crashes outside the Tagg Lane pub with two happening on Saturday, February 10 within half an hour of each otehr. On Sunday there was a crash at 12pm and again at 5pm.

Dominic said: “We need a crash barrier putting up. These crashes are terrifying and dangerous not just for the driver but the pub customers too. On Sunday I had 200 covers in for lunch and thankfully the cars have not gone through the wall.

“Luckily everyone has walked out of their cars shaken but otherwise okay so I think because of that Derbyshire County Council are not taking our calls for better road safely seriously.

“Something needs to be done sooner rather than later.”

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A Derbyshire County Council spokesman said: “Since concerns were first raised with us in 2012 we have put in place several measures to improve safety and warn motorists to slow down on their approach to the bend.

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“The measures include putting additional `SLOW’ markings on the road, renewing existing road markings so they are clear, putting two big chevron signs up on the approach to the bend and new markings at the edge of the carriageway.

“Following renewed concerns from the publican we agreed to replace the old sign warning of a bend and replace it with a new one, as well as installing an extra one. This work is scheduled to be carried out shortly.

“The road is on a primary gritting route, which means it is treated as a high priority, and our gritting teams know which areas to pay particular attention to if there have been issues there in the past.

“We believe the measures we have taken should be enough to alert motorists to the bend and we would always urge people to drive according to the road conditions, even if a road has been gritted.”