Dangers of living so close to death road

For one fatal accident to have occurred outside the coincidentally-named Gilbert House flats - when a car hurtled off King Offa Way towards their home - was unnerving enough.

But for history to have repeated itself so dramatically and so tragically as the catastrophe a month ago has been an unnerving experience.

David's Astra was written off when it was struck in the layby outside the flats by the Nissan Micra in which Bexhill driver Margaret Austin was killed last December.

The Astra was pushed down the steep embankment towards Gilbert House.

In the second incident a neighbour's flat was destroyed when a 25-year-old driver veered off the road to his death.

The cause of the accident has still to be ascertained.

David, advertisement display manager for the Observer group, said: "People are still coming down that road too fast. It makes us wary every time we get in or out of the car.

"You think 'anything can happen...'

"To be honest, my wife wants to move now. It is a worry living there especially when you have a young child.

"All we want is a barrier, really. It would not be difficult.

"Speed cameras would be nice - but I don't think they will do it.

"I find the Highways Agency suggestion of a lower speed limit hard to believe. You couldn't really expect to do 30mph along most of that road.

"Forty miles an hour is sensible, until you get to the 30mph sign on that bend."

At the request of the Bexhill Observer, town MP Gregory Barker has intervened to back the paper's campaign for a safety barrier to be put on the layby to protect Gilbert House and neighbouring properties together with pedestrians using the pavement, which is also below road level.

The MP had an on-site meeting with the Highways Agency and its trunk road contractors two weeks ago.