COUPLE LIVING IN FEAR
Car crashes into OAPs’home – again
An elderly couple insist they are living in fear after a car smashed into their home for the second time in just 18 months.
Pensioners Gibson Mackie, 75, who has motor neurone disease and is bedbound, and wife Jean, 72, narrowly escaped injury when a male driver lost control of his vehicle on ice and ploughed into the wall of their house early on Friday morning.
The furious couple are now calling for South Lanarkshire Council to urgently implement traffic calming measures on the bend leading to their home in St Leonards near the notorious Newhousemill Bridge, to prevent a fatality. Mr Mackie told the News: “It’s honestly going to take someone being killed before anything is done. “I could hear the car approaching the house and skid and my first thought was: “Please not again.” It hit the wall of my bedroom and it’s not like I can go anywhere as I am confined to my bed.” PC Ian Peebles of East Kilbride police, pictured left, has urged motorists to take extra care when driving during the winter months.
A bed-bound pensioner has warned it is only a matter of time before someone is killed – after a car ploughed into his home for the second time in 18 months.
Gibson Mackie, 75, who has motor neurone disease (MND), and wife Jean had a lucky escape when a male driver lost control on an icy stretch of Newhousemill Road early on Friday morning and slammed into the outside wall of their property.
The furious couple are calling for South Lanarkshire Council to carry out urgent improvements at the tight bend before the bridge and for drivers to reduce their speed.
Mr Mackie told the News: “We have called and called on the council to improve the warning signs – but it’s honestly going to take someone being killed before anything is done.
“I was lying awake and I could hear the car approaching the house and skid and my first thought was: “Please not again”.
“Then there was the almighty thud – it hit the wall of my bedroom and it’s not like I can go anywhere as I am confined to my bed.”
The couple also claim the road isn’t properly gritted by the council in winter and motorists fail to slow down as they go round the tight corner.
“Drivers come up and down here like the clappers and lorries regularly come down only to realise they can’t get over the bridge and try and reverse,” Mr Mackie went on.
“Our biggest fear is that a lorry comes down here too quickly and slams right in to us.
“We just keep getting told by the council it’s down to drivers.
“But barriers were installed at Lismore after a car literally ended up in a house so why can’t they do something for us? We are just so angry that we get no answers from the council.”
Wife Jean added: “Neither of us keep well and to live with the constant worry is the last thing we need.”
The driver of the car was uninjured and police say no further action will be taken as the accident was due to ice.
However, PC Ian Peebles warned: “We would urge drivers to take extra care when road surfaces can become icy.”
Council roads boss Gordon Mackay said: “We undertake an annual review of locations where injury accidents have been recorded by Police Scotland.
“This is due to be undertaken at the turn of the year and we will consider this location as well as others.”