LORRY drivers are gearing up to protest at a pedestrian island near the site of a fatal road crash.

Truckers are on standby to do a drive-slow through Beckford, to draw attention to the island on the A46 Cheltenham Road, which was highlighted when a juggernaut left the road and ploughed head-on into a house in April.

The driver, 57-year-old Geoffrey Richardson, from Nuneaton, died in the crash, while the family inside escaped shocked, but unscathed.

Lost control

Residents called for the island to be removed after it was suggested the lorry may have hit it and lost control.

The crash followed a similar incident just six weeks earlier, when another lorry left the road and hit a neighbouring property.

Although one resident, Pat Tovey, gathered more than 1,000 signatures on a petition, Highways Agency officials have said they have no intention of removing it.

"The Stage Three audit threw up no major problems with the scheme and did not recommend the removal of the bollards," said Highways Agency spokesman Annie Harris.

The agency is now going to meet with the parish council.

"If nothing happens after the meeting, I am prepared to contact the lorry drivers to do a drive-slow through the village," said Mrs Tovey.