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‘Don’t hurt my son’: Mum pleads with drivers not to drive on pavement to avoid short diversion
Bekki Fairley, a 28-year-old carer living on London Road in Dereham, has noticed dozens of cars and vans driving on the pavement in front of her home due to the road being closed. Picture: Jane Johnson - Credit: Archant
A mother-of-one has pleaded with drivers to stop mounting the pavement outside her home, leaving vehicles “inches” away from her window.
Bekki Fairley, a 28-year-old carer living on London Road in Dereham, has noticed dozens of cars and vans driving on the pavement in front of her home due to the road being closed. Picture: Jane Johnson - Credit: Archant
Bekki Fairley, a 28-year-old carer living on London Road in Dereham, has noticed dozens of cars and vans driving on the pavement in front of her home due to the road being closed.
Norfolk County Council highways officers put a temporary road closure in place until October 20 after a building was hit by a car, making the structure unstable.
Miss Fairley said: “It started a few weeks ago, the first time it happened I was shocked.
“The car was so close to the window and because there are pebbles in front of my house it looks like the van or car is going to tip in through the window.
Bekki Fairley, a 28-year-old carer living on London Road in Dereham, has noticed dozens of cars and vans driving on the pavement in front of her home due to the road being closed. Picture: Jane Johnson - Credit: Archant
“I have my 11-year-old son at home and I’m petrified he is going to get hit by a car as he is now at an age where he goes in and out of the house on his bike all the time to be with his mates.
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“You would think that the accident causing the road closure would make people think twice or be cautious but it’s the opposite.”
Pictures taken by a resident living on the other side of the road, Jane Johnson, show just how tight the gap is between the road closure and Miss Fairley’s front door.
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The diversion put in place by Norfolk County Council takes approximately two minutes by car.
Bekki Fairley, a 28-year-old carer living on London Road in Dereham, has noticed dozens of cars and vans driving on the pavement in front of her home due to the road being closed. Picture: Jane Johnson - Credit: Archant
The carer said: “The wooden plank in the road is supporting that whole house so it doesn’t fall over. If something was to go wrong and a car or van hit that, the whole house would fall over into the road, onto the car and onto my home.
“It’s not okay. If it was their home they wouldn’t like seeing cars inches away from their window or to be worrying about damage.
“They’re doing it to stop taking a two-minute diversion around the corner... it probably takes longer to manoeuvre around the fence!
“I hope the council can do something to stop it from happening with a sign or something. I just don’t want my son to be hurt.”
Bekki Fairley, 28, and her 11-year-old son. Picture: Bekki Fairley - Credit: Archant
Norfolk County Council confirmed the road closure was still in place.
