RESIDENTS living near an accident blackspot have called for speed cameras after three cars crashed, demolishing two garden walls.

Police and ambulance crews were called to Manners Way, Southend, on Saturday evening after a yellow Renault Clio, understood to be travelling from Byrne Drive, collided with a dark blue Volkswagen Golf travelling down Manners Way towards Southend.

The Golf then smashed into a lamp-post and a garden wall on the corner of Thornford Gardens – hitting it so hard it moved the entire wall by three feet.

A silver Mazda was travelling down Manners Way towards the airport and, in attempting to avoid the cash, the driver is understood to have lost control of the vehicle and ploughed into a garden wall on the other side of the road – snapping a sapling tree in half on the way.

The man was taken to Southend Hospital with minor injuries.

Ken Seymour, 64, had the majority of his front garden wall demolished after it was hit by the Golf.

He said: “The first I heard was an almighty crash and bang and then I saw a Renault Clio and a VW Golf wrapped around a lamp-post, both driven by young people.

“Over the road a sapling got ripped up after an elderly gentleman tried to avoid it all and he crashed into another wall.

“We’re used to seeing accidents here, but it’s lucky no one was killed – a lot of children and old people walk down this stretch of road.”

Beryl Bromley, 86, lives in Manners Way with her sister Carol Bohanna, 77, opposite Thornford Gardens, and is still missing the majority of her front garden wall from an accident three weeks ago.

She said: “It’s the third time that wall has come down. The cars just seem to race along this road and take absolutely no notice of the flashing 30-milesper- hour sign further up. My sister heard a bang at about 3am and then sawheadlights shining in her bedroom through her curtains.

“We feel very strongly there should be speed cameras on this road to stop this happening again.”

An ambulance spokesman said: “The East of England Ambulance Service Trust was called to a traffic incident at 5.48pm on Saturday, January 24, in Manners Way, Southend.

“An ambulance crew and an ambulance officer attended to treat one patient, whowas taken to Southend University Hospital.”

A police spokesman said: “Police were called at around 5.50pm on Saturday, January 24, with reports of a road traffic accident in Manners Way, at the junction with Thornford Gardens in Southend.

“This was involving a yellow Renault Clio, a blue Volkswagen Golf and a silver Mazda. One of the vehicles struck a garden wall and a street lamp was damaged.

“One driver sustained minor injuries."

MANNERS WAY 'HOTSPOT' FOR COLLISIONS

MANNERS Way has been a hotspot for road accidents for years, leaving a trail of serious injuries and a death.

In the most tragic case, eight months’ pregnant, Keely Hartnett, 21, and her unborn child were killed when her boyfriend Phil Roberts’ Ford Escort collided with a Peugeot 306 in October 2007.

Mr Roberts suffered a broken leg.

Paul Cross, the 19-year-old driver of the Peugeot was treated for head injuries and two girls, aged 14 and 15, suffered severe back injuries.

A 17-year-old boy also suffered injuries to his hand in the collision.

Less than a month after Miss Hartnett was killed, 19-year-old Burim Shala, from Westcliff, suffered serious injuries after his yellow Hyosung motorbike collided with a Nissan Micra, which was being driven by 23- year-old Victoria Read, from Westcliff, on the corner of Thornford Gardens and Manners Way.

In October 2008, 28-year-old Colin Johnstone’s parked car was smashed into by an out-ofcontrol Ford Focus on Manners Way, which flipped on its roof just three days after another car smashed through his garden wall.

Tragedy struck again in December 2012 when a biker in his fifties suffered leg and neck injuries after colliding with a car on Manners Way at about 3.25pm and, a few days later, a man in his seventies was hit by a Ford Focus.

On New Year’s Day 2014 the 20-year-old driver of a Ford Focus was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drink or drugs after his car collided with a Rover 75, the driver of which was suspected of careless driving.