A dad has won his fight to get the speed limit of a notorious road reduced.

Lloyd Chapman has been campaigning for the 60mph limit along Sheppey Way, Bobbing, to be downgraded since his son David almost died in a car accident on the road in 2005.

Mum-of-one Claire Mackinnon, 28, from Queenborough, was killed in a head-on crash on the road on March 30 last year.

A letter dated April 16 from Cllr Bryan Sweetland, Kent County Council’s cabinet member for environment, highways and waste, confirms that after discussions with Kent Police, it has been agreed to bring the speed down to 40mph.

This will involve extending the existing 40mph limit along Sheppey Way from Bobbing village as far as the railway bridge and down to the roundabout which leads up to the A249.

It will be altered by March 31 next year.

Mr Chapman, who lives in Sheppey Way, said: “David was 17 and had just passed his driving test two weeks before the accident happened.

"He was turning out of Bobbing village on to Sheppey Way when his car stalled and he was hit by a van travelling from Key Street.

“He was in hospital for two-and-a-half weeks. He had a collapsed lung, brain damage, half of his bowel was removed and he had septicaemia.

"It took about a year for him to recover. Claire’s death was another reason to keep fighting for it. I felt guilty because nothing had been done about it.”

Claire Mackinnon’s sister Kerry, 33, of Scrapsgate, Minster, has welcomed the news. She said: “It’s amazing. I know it wouldn’t have saved my sister but hopefully it will save future lives.”

MP Gordon Henderson, who also put pressure on KCC to reduce the speed limit, said: “I am delighted that Lloyd Chapman’s efforts, and those of Bobbing Parish Council, have been rewarded at long last.

“Now we have to get Kent Highways to do something to make it safer for parents and children who have to cross the A249 slip road to get to and from The Meads.”