Scenes of destruction as lorry overturns and crushes parked car in Devon village

A lorry left scenes of destruction in a village near Exeter last night, Tuesday, August 27. Pictures from Clapham, near Shillingford St George, show a lorry on its side and a smashed black Audi car that bore the brunt of the impact when the HGV tipped onto its side. Scroll down for our picture gallery of the damage caused by the crash.

The lorry overturned on a narrow lane in the village, located around three miles south of Exeter, at around 8.40pm in the evening. The black Audi was parked on the side of the road when it was crushed by the lorry as it tried to pass along the narrow stretch of road. A resident told Devon Live[1] that another lorry jackknifed on the same corner of the road just a few weeks ago.

They collisions come as local people raise concerns about a proposed landfill site in the area and the levels of traffic it will generate. They said: “Our concern is that with vastly increased HGV traffic locally, should the planning application be approved, more of these accidents are likely to occur, possibly with fatal results. Had there been a driver in the parked car we dread to think what might have happened.”

The location of the crash last night is just a mile away from the proposed entrance to the landfill site at Lower Brenton Farm in Kennford. Exeter-based earthmoving and plant hire company BT Jenkins is seeking permission to turn 75 acres of green fields into a landfill[2] for up to 700,000 cubic metres of construction waste, as well as an industrial scale waste crushing facility. Although the lorries involved in the two recent incidents have no connection to BT Jenkins, residents are worried that increased lorry activity locally will lead to an increase in collisions.

The plans for the landfill site have stirred up local opposition, led by the action group Residents Against The Landfill. BT Jenkins said it has submitted plans to create a temporary ‘sustainable way’ to dispose of ‘clean soil’ on the outskirts of Exeter to prevent soil from local developments being transported many miles across the region. The facility would replace BT Jenkins’ Trood Lane landfill site at Matford in Exeter which has reached capacity.

Scroll down for pictures of the damage caused by the lorry in Clapham.

References

1. ^ Devon Live (www.devonlive.com)
2. ^ BT Jenkins is seeking permission to turn 75 acres of green fields into a landfill (www.devonlive.com)