Removed, tribute to young man killed by drink driver
Now heartbroken mum wants another site where she can install banner to ‘raise awareness’
AMUM has spoken of her disappointment after being asked to remove her son’s memorial from the roadside so the council could ‘cut the grass’.
Paula Johnson’s ‘kind and caring’ son, Kristian, was killed by a drink driver in Bacup last year, aged just 24.
On June 17, 2019, he had been celebrating Father’s Day with some friends - having tragically lost his own father - before walking back home in the early hours of the morning.
However, while crossing Market Street near the Texaco garage, he was hit by a car which was being driven by someone over twice the legal limit for alcohol, and died at the scene.
Paula was left devastated by the incident, and wanted to put together a memorial where Kristian’s family and friends could grieve, while also raising awareness of the anguish that drink driving can cause.
“It was a way for everyone to remember Kristian. He was my only child and I’ve lost my husband so everything’s been taken from me,” Paula told the Free Press.
“I don’t want Kristian’s death to be in vain. I have a life sentence now and I need to express to people what it feels like as I don’t want other people to suffer.”
The memorial featured flowers and pictures of Kristian, alongside the slogan ‘Drink driving takes lives and destroys families’ - and that’s exactly what Paula believes it’s done.
“It’s the snowball effect as it affects the community - it’s impacted all his friends.
“The message to me was to think before you get behind the wheel of a car after using drink or drugs, because of the impact it can have on people’s lives.”
Paula looked after the memorial for several months - it was located close to where Kristian died and on council-owned land.
However, just before Christmas last year, she received a letter from Rossendale Council in which they said the memorial needed to be removed so the land could be maintained.
“I really was upset when I had to take it down,” Paula said. “I received a number of positive comments about the awareness it did raise, and it was quite an impactful banner.
“They said it would deteriorate because it was partly made from wood. I offered to move it and fix it properly and weatherproof it but they came back and said ‘no there are other ways of raising awareness’ and said I could have a bench.
“I’m sure there’s somewhere they could put it where it could send a message out.”
Paula told us that although she’s ‘heartbroken’ about losing the memorial, she fully understands the reasons why it had to be done, but has not been able to find an alternative which gets her message out there.
She has rejected the idea of a memorial bench as she doesn’t think it would have the impact on people that she’s looking for.
“I want to make it clear that I am grateful to the council but the intention was to get the message out there and now I don’t think I’m able to do that,” she said.
“I would like the council to consider where we can put the banner if people are unhappy with it being there.”
A spokesperson for Rossendale council told us: “We all feel deeply for Mrs Johnson. What happened to her son was tragic. We’re all mums, dads, brothers and sisters and we’re truly sorry if our letter added to her pain. That was never our intention.”
The heartbroken mum has even had to deal with online abuse after posting her story on social media.
“I had the banner approved by the Highways Agency,” she said.
“I didn’t want people to stare at the banner, I just wanted it to be impactful whenever people saw it. It was not to offend anybody. Some people told me that it’s dangerous but look at the roundabout in Rawtenstall where there are tonnes of adverts and banners, it’s nonsense.”
Now, Paula is hoping that a solution will be found soon, so no one has to go through the same anguish as her.
“I just want more awareness to be raised in the area as a lot of people drink drive in Bacup,” she said.
“There’s not a lot of police presence and people think they can do it and get away with it. I really don’t want people to go through what I went through.”