Bid to put brakes on speed issue

A letter has been sent to a bus company to remind its drivers to slow down when travelling through a Bingham estate.

Trent Barton runs its service through the Tree Estate every 15 minutes, with a route that takes passengers to Nottingham.

Over the three years it has been running, people living on the estate have made complaints about the noise of the buses and the speed at which they travel.

The bus company originally agreed to tell all drivers to travel at an advisory maximum speed of 10mph around Willow Road, but some residents claim this has not been adhered to.

It was also agreed that buses only stand waiting once they have left the estate, at the bus stop on Grantham Road, which residents claim is also not adhered to.

Mr Ian Hall (69) of Ash Close, Bingham, said he saw an accident occur on the bend near his home on April 18.

He claimed a Trent Barton bus had been travelling at around 25mph or 30mph around a bend and had trapped a car, forcing it to mount the kerb.

He said the car was damaged and the drivers exchanged details.

He said: “They do not seem to tell the new drivers about the 10mph limit, and they tend to speed if they are running late.”

“The bus drivers are not being educated.”

Mr Hall suggested the company made a leaflet for all new employees to refer to issues like reducing their speed on Willow Road.

Mr Dave Harley (57) of Willow Road, Bingham, said he knew of four incidents since the buses had started going around the Tree Estate.

He suggested the company could use smaller buses to reduce the noise when the buses pass his house and to stop incidents occurring.

He said it was dangerous because there were blind corners on the estate.

He said: “They do not stick to the 10mph limit.

“Also, on two or three occasions, the buses have stopped outside my house for five minutes.”

Mr Harley said he had sent a letter to Trent Barton about the problems as well as to the MP for Rushcliffe, Mr Kenneth Clarke.

In that letter he states that all of the problems have a detrimental effect on the lifestyle of people living on the estate.

Bingham Town councillor, Mr Francis Purdue-Horan, wrote a letter to the town council’s environment committee to ask that a letter be sent to the bus company from the council to reinforce the concerns of the residents.

At the meeting, Mrs Maureen Stockwood, a councillor on the committee, suggested some strategically placed humps on the estate could solve the problem.

The Mayor of Bingham, Mr George Davidson, said that would be something that would have to be raised with Nottinghamshire County Council’s Highways department.

He said that buses found it difficult to speed on Willow Road for large parts of the day because of the amount of parked cars.

Mr Davidson said: “I am perfectly happy for this committee to write to Trent Barton saying that this point has been brought to our attention again.

“We can say that some buses are going faster than they should be and ask them to please ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

A spokesman for Trent Barton said: “We have received a letter from Bingham Town Council regarding our service around Willow Road.

“Our operations manager at Nottingham is in the process of dealing with the matter and will be responding directly in due course.”