Digger crashes onto resident's driveway in latest crash

Lesley Knight lives at Pentrefelin Mill on the A542 road out of the town towards the Horseshoe Pass.

On Monday afternoon (July 3), at around 4.30pm - just as she was getting ready to leave her home - she heard a crash outside.

She then discovered that a 'digger' had overturned onto her driveway, 'demolishing' part of the garden, as well as some steps, a wall and a fence, before narrowly missing the house.

The digger also caused serious damage to Mrs Knight's car during the collision, she said.

Incredibly, this is the second time in around five months that she has had to deal with an incident of that nature.

Mrs Knight, who has lived in the house for 30 years, told the Leader: "It just keeps happening, we had to have the garden wall re-built back in January after a driver crashed into it late at night.

"Today (July 3), a tractor came by with a large trailer and a 14 tonne digger on the trailer from the Llangollen direction. 

"The trailer slid and took chunks out of the road, while the digger ended up on its side across my driveway, small front garden, front steps, and severely damaged my car. 

"One minute later, my partner and I would have been positioned in the driveway in our van heading out to Wrexham, and we wouldn’t have stood a chance as we wouldn’t have seen this digger coming our way. Thank goodness, the “what if” didn’t happen, but it was so close to being a disaster.

"This is a serious RTC, nobody was killed and nobody was hurt but there was an awful lot of damage.

"We regularly have large stones, sometimes logs (one windscreen had to be replaced) being thrown down our driveway by local farm vehicles with unstable loads, taking the bend so fast the projectiles just fly off."

Further pictures of damage done to Mrs Knight's garden and car.

The road itself has a 40mph speed limit these days, but Mrs Knight believes more needs to be done to tackle those approaching the nearby bend at speed.

She added: "We live in a dip on a bend that has been here since the days of horse and cart. The house Pentrefelin Mill has been here since 1702 first as a corn mill, and since 1993 a residence; I have parked my car in the lee of the front steps (just off the road) most evenings for the 30 years of ownership. 

"There are double white lines outside, and a 40mph limit. The speed limit was reduced to 40 some years ago after a battle with police and council after too many cars overturned or crashed by taking the bend too fast, or by cutting it altogether and crossing the double white lines, hitting the nearby grass banks or skidding out of control. 

"We had to fight like hell to see the road reduced to 40 miles per hour. But, nobody seems to stick to it regardless.

"My railings have been damaged in the past, my drainpipe has suffered numerous bangs, my garden wall has been hit. All a long time ago, and not as frequent for a while, but it has picked up again recently.

"People seriously need to slow down on this bend. 

"I've had it up to my eyeballs with all of it, to be honest. People need to be aware of this spot, it's another accident waiting to happen.

"It would be fair to say that visitors from afar generally take note of the limit and mostly treat the bend with caution, but locals think they know it and are not always so considerate. 

"Many a day we have been almost crashed into when leaving our driveway by someone in a car or van, or on a motorbike coming at speed on the wrong side down the road from the Horseshoe Pass direction and not seeing the driveway at all due to the shape of the road. 

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"They cannot see us and we cannot see them if they cross to the wrong side of the double white lines. We are always super-cautious and very aware of the dangers, and every abnormal road noise in the night wakes me up still.

"I keep high-vis vests and a torch near the front door for the occasions we need to go out to deal with an incident. That’s not what I would call ‘normal’."

"I have lost the car that suits me and my work, that I cherished and worked hard for, my garden wall, railings and steps need to be rebuilt yet again, and my drainpipe needs yet another repair. 

"We feel forever unsafe when outside our house. My partner, elderly mother and visitors love it here, but we feel conscious of the dangers from the road all the time. Today’s incident really drove home how easily our lives could be cut short or severely impacted by injury."

Commenting on the crash, a spokesperson for Denbighshire County Council said: "A temporary repair has been made following this incident, with a permanent repair now being planned by our highways team.

"The condition of this road has been checked again, and no concerns were found by the team”.