4:20pm Tuesday 18th December 2012
By Hermione Wright
A driver who claims he nearly hit a baby in a pram due to a poorly placed bin is “puzzled” as to why Enfield Borough Council has taken it away rather than simply moved it.
Pensioner Jeff Best of Mayfair Terrace in Southgate called for the council to move the bin from the edge of a zebra crossing in Windmill Hill which he said obscured drivers' vision of children waiting to cross.
The council has removed the bin due to safety concerns, but the 72-year-old is questioning why the dangerous bin has disappeared entirely.
He said: “I was a bit puzzled by the whole thing – my suggestion was just to move it from the right hand side of the road to the left but I have seen they have taken it away completely.
"I have given up trying to understand the council.
“Why didn’t they just move it about ten feet and leave it there? It’s disappeared completely. I can’t be bothered to get involved with it now.”
The grandfather-of-four was “horrified” in October after he failed to see a baby in a pushchair as he was driving through Windmill Hill.
He said he saw a man by the crossing but did not stop as he thought he was waiting for a friend and could not see him pushing a pram.
He said someone could get killed at the crossing without urgent action and called for the authority to move the bin.
Councillor Chris Bond, Cabinet Member for Environment, admitted there was a “small chance” that the combination of the CCTV camera base and the bin could obscure the view of a small child waiting at the crossing – especially if drivers are travelling at excessive speeds.
He said: "While the risk was slight, we felt that in the interests of road safety it was prudent to remove the bin to improve drivers' sight lines and reduce the small likelihood of an accident occurring and we have now done so.
“We'd like to thank the Enfield Independent for bringing this matter to our attention."
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