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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Will Hayward

Car just inches away from hitting customers sitting outside Cardiff cafe

A car has come within inches of crashing into a popular Cardiff cafe.

The incident happened on June 19 at 11.30am in Blenheim Road in Pen-y-lan on a stretch of road that locals say is a "tragedy waiting to happen".

Footage shows the car coming down the hill at what appears to be high speed. Another car pulls out of Kimberly Road causing the other car to swerve. It almost hits some customers sitting outside a nearby café and comes to a halt against a lamppost. Thankfully no-one was hurt though police are investgating.

The footage was captured by local resident Gordon Plant who had put up cameras due to a number of near-misses in the area. He is calling on the council to introduce traffic calming measures.

The cars were inches from each other (Gordon Plant)

He said: "We put the cameras up because of several near-misses. We are not the only ones concerned – there have been a lot of close accidents.

"The school is at the bottom of the hill and if it happened during the school run there would have been a real tragedy. It is a matter of time before something tragic happens.

"It always happen around the same point of the the street – people will accelerate once they are past the speed humps and are often going too fast.

"We have been told that they will be reducing the speed from 30mph to 20mph but it is not obeyed or enforced at the moment so would like to see other measures."

A spokeswoman for South Wales Police said: "South Wales Police dealt with a road traffic collision on the June 19 at approximately 11.30am on the street junction of Blenheim Road and Kimberley Road, Cardiff. Investigations are currently ongoing. Nobody was injured during the incident."

(Gordon Plant)

Cardiff council has said it intends to make changes when "finance is available".

A spokesman for the authority said: “The council isn’t in a position to comment on the driving style of either driver shown in the CCTV footage as this is a matter for the police or the GoSafe Partnership and will be part of an ongoing insurance claim.

“The council has previously investigated this junction and there is justification to introduce a tabled junction at this location. The council hasn’t refused to do this as it is included in the future programme and will be implemented when finance is available.

“With the finance that the council has available all proposed schemes that are part of the future programme are assessed using traffic and pedestrian flows, injury collision data over a five-year period, traffic speed data, and an assessment of the site layout. Funding is prioritised for different schemes in the future programme using these criteria.

“The speed limit on Blenheim Road is currently 30mph and this will be reduced to 20mph when the new 20mph limit area is installed in Penylan in 2019-20.

“We ask all motorists in the city to abide by the speed limits that are set in law and drive with due care and attention abiding by the rules of the Highway Code."

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