Western Daily Press (Saturday)
TRAILER CRASH HORROR
AGLOUCESTERSHIRE mother has recalled the harrowing moment she and her family “could have been killed” as an eighttonne trailer smashed into the front of her home.
Lauren Homer, who lives in Lydbrook in the Forest of Dean, described how she was sitting in the front room with her four-week-old baby and three-year-old daughter when she heard a “massive bang”.
Looking out of her window, she was shocked to see the tractor trailer six inches from her front window, having ploughed through her front wall and “taken out the front side of her car, which had been shoved out of the way”.
The trailer reportedly came loose from a tractor. It is believed the tractor was passing a parked car on a blind corner at the time.
Lauren said: “It took me a few minutes to register what it was. I think if it wasn’t for the wall and parked car, it would have come inside the house and we would have all been dead.
“We were sat on the sofa in the bay window and my daughter was hysterical because she didn’t know what it was.
She added: “I’m on edge now. I feel like every time I hear a lorry come round the corner it could happen again. God, what if I had been putting my daughter in the car or if there was a pedestrian walking along the road at the time?”
Lauren said her front wall had metal rails that had been bent or destroyed altogether, and her Nissan Juke was a write-off.
The incident took place at around midday on Thursday.
Lauren said she called police immediately and they remained at the scene until about 4pm.
The B4234 was shut as they dealt with moving the trailer.
Images from Lauren’s front room reveal the shocking sight of the trailer and its load pressed up against the window, inches from where Lauren and her family were sitting.
She added: “My husband, who works the late shift, only got about three hours’ sleep. He rushed out of bed when he heard the bang to see what had happened.
“People were coming and going all day.”
The B4234 has a 30mph limit, but Lauren said she was still concerned with the number of people who “fly through the village and the amount of lorries and tractors who use the route”.
She added: “I think it’s getting worse, although it has been an issue for a long time. I think there really should be a weight restriction on the road.
“It is a blind corner, it’s not safe for a 40-tonne lorry to come through here. I don’t think it should be allowed.
“At the very least there should be a speed camera.”
Despite the potential fallout if the incident had led to injuries, Forest of Dean councillors have expressed doubts at the possibility of introducing a weight restriction on the road.
Lydbrook and Ruardean councillor Bruce Hogan said: “I cannot comment on the cause of the crash, but clearly it could have been far more serious.
“Anyone walking on the pavement at that time would have been crushed and the trailer missed the bay window of the damaged property by inches.
“There has been concern about the speed of vehicles going through the village and the county council has repeatedly rebuffed requests from the parish council to extend the 30mph speed limit along the entire length of the B4234 through the village to include Lower Lydbrook.
“The B4234 is an important link road between Ross-on-Wye, the A40 and the Forest. I think it would be very difficult to persuade the highways authorities to impose a weight restriction.”
A spokesman for Gloucestershire Constabulary, said there would be no police action following the incident.