Lorry smashes hotelier's wall (From Free Press Series)

Lorry smashes hotelier's wall

11:34am Friday 4th July 2008

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A TINTERN woman is pleading with Monmouthshire Council to put a weight restriction on her road as lorries keep clipping her garden wall.

Sue Cooke, 55, runs the Wye Valley Hotel which lies on the A466 towards Catbrook and lives in a cottage next door. Her wall has been hit eight times in the last few years and in latest incident earlier this week, a lorry knocked down her wall without the driver even realising.

"It was knocked down three weeks ago and we have only just had it repaired. But low and behold, I watched another lorry pass through the narrow road and take it down again.

"The driver wouldn't have even known if I hadn't have chased after him and yanked the door open at the traffic lights.

"But my main concern is that there is no pavement and children walk down the road to the school bus stop.

"I just want to get across how dangerous it is and that someone will get killed if something isn't done," said Mrs Cooke.

Mrs Cooke who lives with husband Barry, 54, no longer parks her car outside the house or lets her dogs out in her garden because of how frequently the three foot by five foot drystone wall has been hit.

The cost of replacing it is a couple of hundred pounds each time and the couple have to pay the first £80 with the insurance company taking care of the rest.

She added: "There needs to be weight restrictions on the road as it is just not big enough for the big 40 tonners making their way down. Lorries could easily go through Chepstow, above Trellech and drop down instead."

She has asked Monmouthshire Council to implement weight restrictions and install barriers on the road.

A council spokesman said: "We are grateful that Mrs Cooke has brought this issue to our attention and we will be looking at ways in which we can help to address the problem."

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