Couple's 'slow down' plea to motorists

Residents say they have had enough of the accidents

A couple living in a picturesque Cotswolds hamlet have placed a "Slow Down" sign outside their house after more than 12 serious accidents in 30 years.

Many residents of Westend, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, say they are fed up with their village being used as a rat-run since junction 12 of the M5 was closed last year.

Westend was used as a short cut to avoid early morning traffic jams.

Ernie Greenaway: First accident was in 1974

Ernie and Sue Greenaway took action after a car went out of control on the bend outside their house, smashed through a fence and finally stopped in the garden of the house opposite.

Mr Greenaway said: "The first accident was in 1974 when a telephone pole was cut in half by a car. The driver was thrown through the windscreen and landed up on the grass bank."

Since then, there have been more than a dozen accidents - most photographed by Mr Greenaway.

Mrs Greenaway said: "We're just waiting for an enormous bang and expecting to go out and find somebody dead."

One neighbour, Tony Giblin, added: "You cannot blame people for doing what they are doing - I would do the same.

"But the speed is annoying and is getting extremely dangerous."