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One-way ticket to danger




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Concerns have been raised that lives could be put at risk by congestion.

There are fears that the volume of traffic on Queen Street, Southwell, at certain times of the day would make it impossible for ambulances and other emergency services to get through.

The manager of Divine Body, Miss Kerry Sales, said the one-way system and the narrow road created congestion.

She said: “You can sit at my salon any day between 3pm and 4pm and see what a mess the one-way system is.

“It is only a matter of time before an ambulance tries to get through and can’t. It is like that every day.”

Mrs Sarah Hallam, supervisor at the Old Theatre Deli, Market Place, said she had also noticed the congestion.

She said: “People seem to be queuing down there for quite a long time. It would be hard to get down there in a hurry sometimes.

“We also get big lorries coming round because it is still a bit of a run through for them.”

Mrs Hallam thought the one-way system and lack of parking spaces added to the problems.

She said: “Now you have to pay to park and you only get a certain amount of time, people seem to park wherever they can.

“It is quite close to the Lowe’s Wong schools so it gets quite busy in this area. There are also quite a lot of children crossing the road so you cannot rush about.”

The chairman of the town council’s highways committee, Mrs Beryl Prentice, said the road had been a problem for years.

She said: “It is a very narrow street and even on a normal day an ambulance wouldn’t be able to go down there at 50 mph.

“The new pedestrian crossing may have caused more minor hold-ups but traffic in the town, day-to-day and month-to-month, is getting worse.”

Mrs Prentice did not think there was a clear solution to the problems.

She said: “If you live in a little town like this with very small streets it is a cross you have to bear and part of the problem on Queen Street, Church Street, King Street and Easthorpe is that people are so impatient.

“You cannot make people more considerate. It has got to come from inside and it is a sad reflection that everybody is always rushing and a minor little hold-up becomes something much more major.

“The message for people is to be more conscientious towards your fellow citizens.”

A spokesman for East Midlands Ambulance Service said: “In an emergency situation, delays can put lives at risk. For that reason, we would urge all motorists to park considerately and never leave their vehicle in a position where it could prevent an ambulance on a 999 call getting by.”



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