A TAVISTOCK town councillor has applauded action finally being taken to strim grass obstructing the view from a dangerous junction opposite Tavistock Hospital – just hours after a local woman was almost run over.

Cllr Ursula Mann has been trying to get action over the junction for months.

On Monday morning, she fired off an email to county council highways after being contacted by Joyce Hall, 84, who narrowly missed being hit by a car when she tried to cross the road at the crossing opposite the hospital.

Mrs Hall, who is the warden at the bungalows beside the hospital, said the driver shouted abuse at her as he whizzed past, as she had stepped out into the road because she could not see around the tall grass. She was taking an early morning walk before her day’s work began, but the roads were already busy.

‘I went to step out there, listening out for traffic and he just shot around the corner,’ she said. ‘I could have been run over.’

She said that a gardener used to strim the verge on behalf of one of the houses overlooking the road, but that no longer happened.

She contacted Cllr Mann back in March and she reported the situation to Devon County Council’s highways department, who must keep highways clear of obstructions for safety reasons. She had, however, seen nothing done, until, that is, Cllr Mann got back on to them to report Joyce’s near miss.

Joyce had also been particularly concerned about other residents in the bungalows, including some who are hard of hearing. She said nurses parking in the road opposite the hospital were also struggling to cross on the pedestrian route. Despite this, no efforts had been made to strim the grass. Until on Monday afternoon, Joyce found action had finally been taken.

‘I went and looked down the road and said where has the grass gone?’ she said. ‘When I looked out at about five to four it was gone.’

Mrs Hall said she was grateful for Cllr Mann’s help. Cllr Mann, meanwhile, put the action down to Mrs Hall’s determination to get something done. ‘It is brilliant that it has been cut at last and it is down to Joyce,’ she said. ‘It is really dangerous corner and with so little money allocated for maintenance of roadways and pedestrian highways it is something that needs to be kept on top of.’

She agreed that a pedestrian crossing would be helpful at this point, where most people cross to get to the hospital.

‘We have people crossing to the hospital who are quite vulnerable who need to have a safe crossing,’ she said.

‘It is one of those places which feels very residential, but in actual fact that hospital is a really critical feature for our town and its really important that people are safe there.’