Teens escape unhurt after minibus overturns on A66

A NEAR miss in which a minibus “overturned three times” has triggered renewed calls for action at an A66 junction.

A Junior Leaders Adventure Group minibus crashed last Wednesday (January 10) at Ellerbeck Quarry, near Bowes, on the A66 approach to the eastbound A67 junction.

Bowes parish councillor Phil Hughes told council colleagues how the van rolled over three times before coming to rest.

The group escaped uninjured with everyone in the vehicle wearing their seat belts.

The cause in this case was thought to be a burst tyre but this narrow escape prompted members of Bowes and Gilmonby Parish Council to sound a plea for more signage on the A67 approach.

Cllr Hughes said: “Could we say something about the pre-signage going eastbound?

“It’s not obvious you have to get in the right-hand eastbound lane and certainly not obvious to foreign lorry drivers.”

“They need a larger arrow,” added chairman Cllr Dave Carlisle.

There is a sign one-third of a mile from the junction to tell drivers about the A66/A67 split.

But motorists changing lanes late have been the cause of accidents and near misses in the past.

Tyre gouge marks from lorries are visible on the grass near the junction measuring two-and-a-half inches deep.

Cllr Cliff Brown branded the A67 junction “the second most dangerous” in the country after councillors noted the dangers at the New Lane junction off the A66 near Ravensworth and the Fox Hall Inn.

A gritter overturned on the slip road five years ago and members also recalled a wagon which shed its load of frozen dinners on the same junction ten years ago.

Cllr Carlisle added: “The wagon full of dinners did the same – it skewed around with the cab facing up the hill and the dinners facing downhill.”

After the meeting, Cllr Hughes stressed how this wasn’t a new problem.

He added: “You can sit on the Clint Bridge and see the brake lights and frantic efforts to get across that are more frequent than seeing meteorites during the Perseid shower.”

Councillors agreed to contact Highways England with the aim of installing an “Eastbound traffic in right-hand lane” sign.

A Highways England spokesperson said: “Safety is our number one priority and we are currently carrying out an investigation looking at options to improve the Bowes junction on the A66.”