CCTV footage has emerged of a spate of car crashes on what has been dubbed Britain’s ‘death trap junction’.
The series of clips at the Llynclys crossroads, on the England and Wales border, show a car being spun after being hit by a lorry, and another flipped on its roof.
In one video, a car smashes head-on into the side of another, forcing it to roll onto its roof. Three toddlers had to be pulled to safety by staff from a nearby pub.
That was one of two crashes in two hours at the crossroads, with police still in attendance from the first incident when the second smash happened.
A car can be seen in another clip bouncing between waiting traffic at the junction, only to veer off the road and come to a stop – just inches from a bus stop.
At school collection and drop-off times, the pavement and verge by the stop would usually be teeming with children.
The dangerous junction has left one mother living in daily fear for her children’s safety during the school run, while another local fears someone will be killed.
The junction is a busy commuter and visitor route and sits on the A483, which runs between Llanymynech and Oswestry in North Shropshire and acts as a trunk road to Holyhead.
HGVs, fuel tankers and other trucks thunder through the crossroads – one clip captures a huge lorry spinning a Nissan Micra sideways.
Officials at National Highways have previously branded the blackspot as the most dangerous in the Midlands.
The junction is the subject of a campaign by the local Liberal Democrat MP, Helen Morgan, who wants to see urgent improvements and is currently in discussion with Britain’s highways agency to arrange a public meeting.
Ms Morgan has called for immediate action with speed reductions, cameras and maintenance ahead of a larger redesign of the junction.
The long-term aim is for a bypass to be built, a project the previous Conservative government had promised.
The MP has also demanded to meet with Heidi Alexander MP, Secretary of State for Transport.
In a letter to Ms Alexander, the MP highlighted the ‘daily fear’ of road users at the junction and the ‘very real risk of a fatal collision’.
‘The site has long been one of the most dangerous hotspots for road incidents in the West Midlands and yet successive governments have failed to act,’ Ms Morgan wrote.
She also detailed how one mother had witnessed a total of eight crashes on the crossroads during the school run with her three children.
Ms Morgan added: ‘She told me she feels deeply concerned for their safety every single day.
‘In addition, local children must cross this road twice a day to reach their school bus. I am extremely concerned about the very real risk of a fatal collision involving one of these children.’
After the recent crash this month, Ms Morgan lashed out at Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government.
‘I’m dismayed but not surprised that more crashes have taken place at Llynclys as the Government drags its heels,’ she said.
‘This can’t go on. I’m calling an urgent meeting with the Department for Transport and National Highways to demand a long-overdue commitment for change.’
Dave Roberts, 70, lives less than a mile from the junction and is a bus driver for a local coach firm.
He crosses the junction multiple times a day and does the school run for local children, often picking up and dropping off at the bus stops on either side of the crossroads.
He said: ‘The junction is a death trap and people are taking risks. Other people living nearby go out of their way to avoid the crossing, speeding along other roads as rat runs, which is also dangerous.
‘Something needs to be done before somebody gets killed, not after.’
Ian Doust, National Highways Programme Development Manager for the Midlands, said: ‘We are very aware of the issues concerning Llynclys Crossroads and are developing options to improve the location.
‘Those proposals are in the design stage and we hope can be taken forward once funding is confirmed. In the meantime, we will continue to liaise closely with the local MP and authorities and update them as our proposals progress.’
