Crash at A449 blackspot

A motorist was treated in Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital for neck and back pain last night after his white Mazda crashed through the fence of the Miller & Carter Pub, on the A449 Stourbridge Road in Wombourne. The crash happened in almost an identical spot to a smash days ago, when a car landed on its roof outside the pub.

The latest crash, at 3.30pm yesterday, follows a similar accident in May last year when customers enjoying the sunshine outside the steakhouse pub, formerly Penn Cottage, jumped for their lives after a sports car careered into the garden.

The silver Audi convertible travelling out of Wolverhampton struck a sign before ploughing through the beer garden of the pub and hitting one of the outside tables.

The road fully re-opened on September 18 after a month-long project to reduce the 70mph speed limit and cut lanes.

The work took place following a series of accidents and fatal crashes.

On April 9, Jasvinder Randhawa, aged 27 from Blakenhall, 25-year-old Anita Heer, from Tettenhall, and Jaspal Kaur Virdee, 28, from Sutton Coldfield, all died when the Subaru Impreza they were in lost control on a notorious bend on the inbound carriageway to Wolverhampton.

A Facebook group was set up following the tragedy with many of its 220 members condemning the A449 blackspot.

Last year, Luke Woodstock, aged 19, of Wordsley, and 51-year-old Jagjit Singh, of Penn, were also killed within weeks of each on the same stretch of road.

As part of the work to improve safety on the A449, the speed limit has been reduced to 40mph in some parts and in others, it has been reduced to one lane.

But the project has already been branded "totally unacceptable" by a transport leader. Colin Leighfield, chairman of the Black Country Chamber Policy Transport Group, warned the transformation of the busy road at Wombourne would make congestion even worse.