Work begins to rebuild crash cottage

Work has started on rebuilding the front of a 300-year-old Shropshire cottage – three months after a cement mixer lorry ploughed into it and left a big gaping hole in the front.

The driver hit a telegraph pole before ploughing into The Gate House, a former toll gate, in Longdon on Tern, Telford, on the B5603 Cotwall Road in January. Owner Douglas Buttery was out at the time.

Mr Buttery, 67, returned on the bus from a shopping trip seconds after to find the cement mixer on its side blocking the road and a big hole in the front of his house.

He said today he was looking forward to getting back to normal.

"It's been the inconvenience more than anything - I have been living in the back of the house which was unaffected but I have had to pack away books and furniture for storage and when you want something it's not there," he said.

"The delay in starting the work has been frustrating but the builders can't just stop what they are doing somewhere else and come straight out.

"I'm just glad it's finally starting. The plan is to restore the house to how it looked before and it should take around eight weeks. I can't wait to see how it looks when it is finished."

Mr Buttery said that his family had lived in the house for more than 100 years.

He added that it had been significantly extended during that time, but it was the front of the house hit by the lorry that was the historic surviving piece from when it was built.

The B5603 was closed for more than nine hours after the accident.

The driver of the cement truck, a man in his 40s, was unhurt.

The collision led to calls for traffic calming measures to be introduced along the notorious country lane led by Richard Harvey, the landlord of the Tayleur Arms pub on the opposite side of the road to the historic home.

By Wayne Beese