Council to move 'dangerous' bin by zebra crossing following near-miss (From Enfield Independent)

Enfield Borough Council to move 'dangerous' bin by zebra crossing following near-miss

3:21pm Monday 22nd October 2012 in News By Hermione Wright

Enfield Borough Council will move a bin after a driver claimed it was in a “dangerous” position.

Jeff Best, of Mayfair Terrace in Southgate, believes the council bin obscures drivers’ vision of the zebra crossing in Windmill Hill on the approach to Enfield Town.

The 72-year-old hit out at the council on Friday after he had a near-miss with a man pushing a baby in a pram, claiming the pushchair was completely hidden behind the bin.

Cabinet member for environment, Councillor Chris Bond, said: "We take road safety extremely seriously and while there have been no accidents on this pedestrian crossing since the bin was installed in 2009 there is a small chance that the combination of the CCTV camera base and the bin itself could obscure the view of a small child waiting at the crossing, especially if motorists are driving with towards the crossing at excessive speeds.

"While the risk is slight, we feel in the interests of road safety it is prudent to move the bin to improve drivers’ sight lines and we will be moving the bin soon."

The grandfather-of-four, who has lived in the borough for 49 years, was concerned that someone would get killed if the council did not take immediate action.

Mr Best, who is a freelance pattern cutter as well as a professional toast maker at weddings, said he was not speeding and claims even drivers travelling at 20 miles per hour could run into difficulties at the zebra crossing.