Safety appeals as van crashes into property on A50 Markfield Road, at Groby

Residents living on a bend in a busy dual carriageway are demanding action after the latest incident involving a van crashing into a garden.

People living on the A50 Markfield Road, at Groby, say they need protection for themselves, their families and their properties.

It follows a crash on Saturday morning in which a blue VW van left the road, knocked down a wall and a wooden telegraph pole and crashed through a front garden.

The van ended up lying on its side on the driveway of Kim and Jamie Hargrave's home, less than a foot from their living room window.

The aftermath was captured on camera by Mercury reader Mark Allen.

The family was not at home at the time of the crash – at about 11.50am – and the driver escaped with minor injuries.

"It's incredible to me that he survived at all," said Kim, 50.

"The telegraph pole was snapped at the base and ended up in three pieces on our drive, but all he walked away with was a sprained wrist.

"If it had happened 25 minutes earlier, my daughter, who is nine months pregnant, and I would have been leaving the house to go Christmas shopping.

"It would have cleaned us up – we wouldn't have stood a chance – and if our cars had been on the drive, it could have gone over the top and crashed right through our living room."

Jamie returned home to find the car in the garden.

"I was horrified," he said.

"My first thought was that the car had landed on my wife's and that her and my daughter had been hit. It was very upsetting."

Emergency services were called to the scene at about 11.50am.

The Hargraves' home is located just off the northbound carriageway, at the end of a sweeping bend where the national speed limit reduces to 50mph.

It is not known what caused the crash, which did not involve any other vehicles, but the road surface was wet at the time.

Businessman Mark Allen, who runs Leicester Blinds Ltd, took the above picture shortly after the accident.

Kim said cars coming off the road at the bend was not uncommon.

"Ourselves and our neighbours have lost count of the number of incidents," she said.

"A young lad died on our driveway a few years ago after a similar crash, and two men survived another 10 months ago when they ended up on top of our hedge."

She said there was "a kink in the road as it sweeps round", and some drivers do not slow sufficiently to negotiate it.

Residents have been calling for measures such as speed cameras and barriers to be installed at the bend.

Leicestershire County Council has agreed to invest £120,000 and is drawing up a scheme of safety improvements along the A50, from the A46 junction to the Field Head roundabout.

It will include reduced speed limits and speed-activated signs.

Groby county councillor Rob Fraser said: "I welcome these improvements, but we need to go further.

"We need a speed camera on this bend. I have been lobbying everyone I can and I'm confident we will now get one."

Anyone who witnessed the crash, or who saw the blue van immediately beforehand, is asked to call police on 101.