RESIDENTS fed up with huge lorries becoming wedged across a narrow residential crossroads are calling for action.
On two evenings in the past two months, peace at the junction of Nutley Lane, Yorke Road and Beaufort Road in Reigate has been shattered as heavy goods vehicles become stranded while trying to negotiate a tight right-angle turn. The latest incident happened last Wednesday.
Each time, residents have come out in force and spent up to two hours guiding the truck drivers to extricate their lorries – but now they say enough is enough. They have called on Surrey County Council to install better signing in the area to warn truck drivers travelling from the Albert Road North Industrial Estate they cannot get through if they head down Nutley Lane.
"For a lorry to get stuck once a year, no-one would mind too much, but it's more like once a month," said frustrated Yorke Road resident Ali Kershaw.
"They are huge vehicles. You should be able to park your car outside your home without worrying an HGV is going to go through the middle of it.
"The signpost that tells drivers to turn left is not very clear. Most of them are foreign drivers, they are in the middle of nowhere, it's dark and they instinctively turn right, and then there is nothing they can do."
Two years ago, a runaway truck damaged 19 parked cars and ploughed into a house in Beaufort Road. The driver had left his vehicle to get a better view of the narrow space he had to negotiate between parked cars but, while he was assessing the situation, the truck's air-brake failed. Miraculously, no-one was hurt, but residents say not enough has been done since that incident.
Father of two Chris Machin, 36, said: "You see the sheer size of these vehicles, they are mounting the pavements and coming very close to properties, gardens, fences and walls. I have two small children who were woken by the scene last Wednesday. And if it happens in the day its in a highly residential area, with lots of families."
Nutley Lane resident Phil Elson, dad to a four-year-old, added: "These are residential roads packed with parked cars and we get these huge great trucks trying to get through.
"It feels more like Piccadilly Circus. It is worrying; a lot of people around here have children. None of the kids can play on the street because it is too dangerous."
Highways authority Surrey County Council had not commented before we went to press.
