RESIDENTS in St Ann’s Chapel are increasingly concerned as they are subjected to continual car damage on the A390.

One resident voiced his concerns as he has experienced numerous incidents of car damage including the loss of six car mirrors.

Residents have expressed that cars parked along the A390 in St Ann’s Chapel are vulnerable due to the width of the road which results in cars squeezing past, the volume of traffic and the speed of cars.

Richard Sheppard, a resident at Fernleigh Terrace said: ‘We’ve been here almost nine years and in nine years, I’ve lost six car mirrors, had rear damage on one car and major damage on another car. We had £1,800 of major damage on the right-side wing and my wife had to track the lorry down that caused the damage and luckily the driver behind had written down the registration. Most of the time the drivers just drive off.

‘I’ve come out one morning and my mirror has been in pieces.

‘It’s disappointing and upsetting.

‘We try and park differently to try and protect the car, but there’s not a lot you can do about it.

Parish councillor for the Delaware ward, John Wells, another resident who lives near Richard echoed his concerns and wants action to be taken to solve these issues.

John said:‘In the last twelve months 12 cars have been written off or badly damaged.

‘We are concerned. We are concerned about people in the village and the road becoming a race track outside of working hours. It’s a combination of people going too fast and people trying to squeeze past.

‘The main thing we need is careful drivers.

‘The road is also incredibly busy.

Cllr Wells is an advocate for solving the issue of speed and traffic on the A390 and is continually campaigning for safer roads and is working with Cornwall Council and Cormac and Cornwall Highways in the hopes to install two new speed cameras and a crossing along the road. Cllr Wells has also recently set up a Community Speedwatch to try and take some action.

The most recent Speed watch took place last week and the volunteers involved measured traffic and recorded the speeds of drivers.

‘In the half an hour during the Speedwatch in a quiet period out of season, we measured 360 cars and 14 of these vehicles were doing in excess of 35mph’, said John.

The speed limit for this stretch of the road is 30mph.

Richard believes that the A390 issues are getting increasingly worse.

Richard said: ‘Speeding is the main concern as the speeding is excessive and the other thing is the amount.

‘There is a huge amount of haulage lorries coming through and the road was not designed for it.

‘I think it’s got to the point that it’s excessive. The traffic can cause congestion and some drivers cannot judge the distance.

‘Big vehicles also use the road as a chase-through.

‘The problem is 100% getting worse. The quantity of vehicles has increased. It used to be much quieter here.

‘The road is just not designed for this amount of traffic’.