Hundreds sign petition calling for rethink of 'dangerous' road at Newport retail park

The petition, started by Nick Garvey, calls for the entrance to Newport's newest retail space to be closed off and reconsidered.

Mr Garvey wrote: "The entrance and exit to the new BP/Lidl/Greggs Retail Park on the A41 is extremely dangerous and is an accident waiting to happen.

"There have been sightings of poor judgement due to the speeds on the A41 and several people have witnessed a near collision with traffic exiting the car park across the A41 towards Wolverhampton.

"The exit eastbound should be stopped ASAP and revised before there is a serious accident."

It took just a couple of days for the online petition to gain traction, being signed by more than 250 people.

Safety

John Rutherford said: "This is not a safe access. The two lanes on the roundabout and the 'racer' lane coming off it encourages people to accelerate to get past the trucks/slower drivers in the short distance before the two lanes merge.

"At this point, driver's attention is likely to be concentrated on the vehicle being overtaken, not the unexpected vehicles emerging from the filling station and retail park."

Amy Shoemake, a student at Harper Adams, said: "Even though I do not regularly commute on this road daily I have still seen many near misses and have witnessed many people pulling out in front of me or other people, causing me to brake rather harshly so I don’t run into the back of them.

"This has happened both east and westbound. This junction should be changed as soon as possible."

Councillor Tim Nelson, deputy chairman of Newport Town Council's community safety committee, urged people to have their say directly to the council, rather than relying on online petitions.

"Unfortunately petitions have little weight," he said.

"They are taken as one view expressed many times.

"It's better if individuals actually address Newport Town Council and Telford & Wrekin Council directly. That has enormously more effect. If we get 100 letters, that's 100 different views."

To view the petition click here