by Rachael Woods

rwoods@thekmgroup.co.uk

Whitstable hairdresser Audrey Randall has spoken out over the safety of the town’s pedestrian crossings following the death of a pensioner last week.

The 80-year-old woman, named locally as Jean Kingsley of Cypress Close, was hit by a car on the Oxford Street crossing two weeks ago and died from her injuries at Margate’s QEQM hospital.

Mrs Randall is concerned about the traffic-light controlled crossing by the railway bridge, which she describes as 'three-way’ as Oxford Street, Canterbury Road and Belmont Road feed into it.

She said: “Quite a lot of drivers ignore the red lights and others turn right onto Belmont Road and this is not allowed. Over the years I have spoken to police about my concerns but nothing ever seems to happen.

“It seems nothing is ever done to improve safety on crossings until someone is killed or injured, but why wait until something awful happens?”

Mrs Randall said the fatal collision at the library crossing was the ideal opportunity to draw attention to other safety concerns on crossings.

Retired policeman Chris Ritchford said in the wake of the pensioner’s death that he had previously seen a few near misses on the crossing between the Co-operative and the library.

He called for improvements, describing the crossing as “firmly out of date”.

• An inquest into Mrs Kingsley’s death is expected to open early next week and will be adjourned.