A petition to get a crossing on a road which has claimed several lives has had some extra weight thrown behind it after councillors backed the scheme.

Gravesham borough councillor for Northfleet North Peter Scollard (Lab) and KCC councillor for Northfleet and Gravesend West Narinder Singh Thandi (Lab) were behind a successful campaign to get a pedestrian crossing outside Lawn Primary School in London Road, Northfleet, a couple of years ago.

Now more action is being called for after Sifa Rifat, 88, was the latest casualty of the stretch. She was walking across the road from her home in the sheltered housing block Cleveland House, to the bus stop opposite back in May, and was killed after a collision with a car.

Cllr Bronwen McGarrity (Con), who is an older people’s champion with Gravesham council and is linked with various charities which help older and disabled people, has also fully backed the campaign.

Cllr Scollard said: “We won’t rest until this road is fixed. There is absolutely no need for there to be a 40mph stretch here and that’s the first thing which needs to change. It’s shocking, and dangerous. I don’t know anywhere else in the country where there’s such a high limit outside two schools and a nursery. Most places drop the speed limit to 20.

“We also have a lot of vulnerable, elderly and disabled people living along the road. There are more than 50 in Cleveland House alone.”

Pakize Guvenc looked after Mrs Rifat for 16 years and called her Nan. Heartbroken by her death, she began a petition for safety measures.

She now has more than 800 signatures and the councillors plan to present the petition to Gravesham’s next transportation board in December.

Cllr Scollard added: “We’re also talking about getting a crossing put in there, or at least an island in the middle. There are discussions about speed cameras as well, but the speed limit is the first thing to address, followed by signage to let drivers know there are children and elderly people crossing. Neither of those things are expensive to put in.”

There are zebra crossings on London Road – one to the west of Cleveland House outside Lawn primary school and one to the east, outside Rosherville primary but to get from Cleveland House to the bus stop opposite via a crossing means walking around half a mile more. Most elderly and disabled residents cannot manage that distance.

Miss Guvenc, 41, added: “This is such a connected community, the schools have been asking for this for years. This is an extremely dangerous road and we will fight until we get this.”

n Damian Demczuk, 27, of Quarry Hill in Grays, Essex, will appear before Medway magistrates on Tuesday, November 8, accused of one count of
causing Mrs Rifat’s death while driving without due care and attention and while unfit through drugs, and one count of causing death by driving while uninsured.

'So many deaths'

The residents at Cleveland can recall about five fatalities along London Road in the past 20 years or so.

Mrs Rifat is the most recent but in 2009 teenager Josh Callaghancorr - from our archives. pic attached was killed when a driver fell asleep at the wheel and hit an oncoming car with Josh and his father inside.

The 16-year-old was taken to hospital but died the next day. The driver, Koaldeep Singh Lit was jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Carol Curtiscorr died crossing the stretch 22 years ago, when she was 31. She left a son and daughter aged five and three.

Cllr Scollard said: “There have been so many deaths and accidents but what those figures don’t tell you is the number of near misses as well.

“We see crashes on this road all the time, and it’s only down to luck that more people have not died.

“People speed up when they see the 40mph, not realising 300 metres down the road it’s back to 30mph. They overshoot the turning into Dover Road all the time.

“KCC and Kent Police need to come down to this road and just watch the way people drive, and how fast they go.”

Four vehicles collided on the road near the Nisa convenience store at 4.50pm last Thursday, October 20, near where the speed limit changes.

In March 2013 school pupil Ryan Cann was taken to hospital after a collision with a car. The pedestrian suffered broken bones.

Earlier this year, a car crashed near Paramount Tandoori on the road, and was “smashed to smithereens” according to Cllr Scollard.

In July 2015, a woman’s car collided with railings outside Rosherville school – where the speed limit changes from 30mph to 40mph – and overturned.

Before that, the bus shelter near the Leather Bottle pub had to be removed after another crash.

The councillors are in talks over the money they have available to them to make sure more safety measures go ahead, and have approached the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation for any extra support.