Replacement could cost more than �30,000 and take months to complete, say councillors

HIGHWAYS chiefs have been accused of ignoring safety warnings after an historic Shute pillar was demolished by a car for the second time.

The stone post was completely flattened in last week’s accident, but despite the massive impact the driver escaped without serious injury.

Angry local councillors say their calls for road safety improvements on the bend have been ignored.

This week Shute Parish Council chairman Peter Rugg said the village now faced more delays in getting the ancient gateway repaired.

He told The Herald: “Three years ago it got knocked down and it took ages to get it back up because no one would own up to doping it. Eventually they found the owner and his insurance company finally paid out the �34,000 it cost to rebuild the pillar, which is made from special stone.”

Mr Rugg said this time police knew who the driver of the car was and so, hopefully, they could claim from his insurance to rebuild the pillar.

He added: “What annoys me – and I get no joy out of saying ‘I told you so’ – was we told the County Council this was going to happen when we met them there a few years ago.

“We told them they needed to put something in the road to indicate it was a bad corner but they would not listen to us. It makes me so angry. It takes years to get the pillar back up and at such a cost.”