Action call over danger junction

BLACKSPOT . . . Wellyhole Street and Lees Road, scene of the latest accident

An MP is calling for better safety measures at a notorious Oldham road junction after a car careered across Lees Road, crashing and trapping two men inside.

The black VW car shot out of Wellyhole Street before hitting the kerb in Lees Road and plunging into bushes. Two men escaped and ran off towards Clarksfield. Police found the car on its side and are still investigating.

A Lees Road motorist who missed being hit by the car by seconds said: “The car shot across the road from Wellyhole Street and hit the kerb so hard it pulled it up.

“The car was so deep into the bushes all you could see was the rear window. One lad had trapped his hand in the door, the other was screaming to get out, but they both managed to run away.”

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas has written to Oldham Council calling for improved safety measures.

It is the same spot where, in 2003, 16-year-old schoolfriends Christian Leyden, of Springhead, and Anthony Hughes, of Greenfield, were killed when a speeding car also failed to stop at the Wellyhole Road junction and struck the car Anthony’s mother was driving.

Kathleen Hughes (57), suffered serious internal injuries.

And Chris Dale, a talented Blue Coat School pupil, also died when he was in collision with a Mini Cooper as he crossed Lees Road near the junction in June this year.

Mr Woolas told the council’s executive director of environmental services, John Hurst after the incident on Saturday: “This time fortunately there was no other vehicle involved otherwise my constituent believes there would have been another fatality.

“Can anything be done to warn drivers of the junction when driving down Wellyhole Street?”