A CONCERNED business owner and a councillor have called to reduce the speed limit outside a Southend school to 20 miles per hour, following another crash.

Police were called to Hamstel Road, near the junction with North Avenue, shortly after 8pm on Thursday (November 26) after an Audi TT came off the road and ploughed into a set of metal bollards.

The motorist escaped unhurt but it was the second incident in a week of a vehicle reportedly leaving the road and crashing following a hit and run on the road, near Hamstel Junior School.

Lee Singh, Clarks Convenience Store, in Hamstel Road, said: “We do see people driving quite fast along here.

“If the limit was put down to 20mph then it would make a difference – especially because of the schools, it is very dangerous for small kids.

“Thursday’s crash was right outside my shop, I came down after it happened and the bollards were all bent, I don’t know what would have happened if they hit someone on the pavement.”

Ten-year-old Tazanna Lamb, was left needing hospital treatment for suspected concussion after a green truck hit her as she waited at a pedestrian crossing on Thursday, November 19.

Accidents are not a rare occurrence on the stretch of road.

A mother-of-two was rushed to hospital last October following a smash on Hamstel Road, a teenage boy was hit by an ice cream van outside the school in June, 2014, and a three-year-old boy struck by a car in Poynings Avenue, outside Hamstel Infant School, in July, 2014.

Independent councillor for Southchurch, Derek Kenyon, said something needs to be done to tackle the number of accidents.

He said: “It is an awful piece of road.

“The whole of Hamstel is not good anyway, but particularly around the schools.

“The parents and people who are picking up and dropping off their children at the school need educating.

“It is not just Hamstel though, it is across the borough.

“It needs some drastic action and I am convinced that there is a need to lower the speed limit to 20mph, even ten directly outside the school or a vehicle prohibited zone.”

Police attended the scene of the latest crash, on Thursday, and after inquiries were made, no further action was taken.