Fears over lorry damage in Herefordshire village

Villagers in Church Pitch, in Goodrich, near Ross-on-Wye, said lorries constantly try to use the road through their village as a cut-through between the A40 and B4229.

But Lucy Rickman, who spoke on behalf of the village, said there are signs stating the road is unsuitable.

"This situation has been going on for years but has escalated in the last few years due to the use of satnav systems," she said.

Lorries have been getting stuck in Church Pitch, in Goodrich

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By Granton House is a single width double bend between house walls and garden walls, which the lorries would struggle to get past.

"They try to which has caused damage to the walls, buildings, hedges, and trees," said Ms Rickman.

The lorries end up reversing half a mile back to the Cross Keys pub.

This is a narrow, high hedged lane with no verge or pavement, it is a bus route, route to school for children walking and cycling from that end of the village, and it is used by locals to walk dogs, joggers, cyclists.

"In other words, an accident waiting to happen," she said.

The villagers have been logging incidents when they see them and have a whole file of photos and videos that can be shared.

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An incident that happened at 9.30pm on Monday, October 17

The latest incident happened at 9.30pm on Monday, October 17.

The lorry came up the hill from the B4229 and became completely stuck.

With the help of five residents, it took about 30 minutes to get it around the bend. It took out more wall and tree of Beechgrove.

This wall belonging to Beechgrove, was badly damaged on Thursday, September 29.

Beechgrove was badly damaged on Thursday, September 29, and police were called

The police were called as there were large sections of old stone wall across the lane.

"The driver did not stop but must have been aware of the damage he had caused," said Ms Rickman.

"He was driving a large wood-chipping lorry and was towing a long chieftain trailer."

Beechgrove was badly damaged by a lorry on Thursday, September 29

That incident happened the day before a scheduled meeting with Jesse Norman MP, Yolande Watson, and the parish council to help with the problem.

They were all in full support of getting this issue sorted.

It was agreed that they need to investigate measures to stop this from happening, which include a barrier, reduced speed limit, better signs, and to update Satnavs.