Bus stop is "health hazard" says pensioner

Eighty-three-year-old Judith Harris, of Partney, regularly catches the bus into Horncastle and alights on the return bus using the recently-relocated bus stop on Jubilee Way, near to where the black horse statues are located.

But she said that as the bus shelter is located so close to the edge of the road, passengers are constantly being splashed by vehicles driving through puddles.

She said: “I caught the bus on Thursday (October 27) when it was pouring with rain and and all of us at the bus stop were soaked as the lorries were driving past too fast and spraying us, so we had to travel home soaking wet.

"This is detrimental to our health if we get soaked in the winter months and have to stand in the cold and soaking wet.”

Mrs Harris is enquiring if it is possible to move the bus stop to a more suitable location, or at least move it back from the road.

But a spokesperson for Lincolnshire County Council highways said the bus shelter can’t be moved due to the “nature of the roads in the centre of Horncastle”:

"Our team explored all the possibilities around where we could site the stop in the area, including whether we could use a nearby layby, but this turned out too short for the safe stopping of buses,” said a spokesman.

"In terms of a location that works with the provision of service in the area, this stop is in the prime place for the people of Horncastle and those wishing to arrive in the centre of the town.

“If we didn’t provide this central location stop, then the only place in Horncastle where people would be able to get on a bus would be just before the 30mph speed limit sign or outside the Shell garage just before leaving Horncastle on the A158 Spilsby Road.

“We engaged with the Town Council about the design of the shelter. To keep in with the local surroundings, the wooden structure in place was the version they chose.”

The spokesman has also asked drivers using the road to be considerate of bus users, as being splashed by inconsiderate drivers is an offence by the driver under the Road Traffic Act 1988, it is illegal to drive "without reasonable consideration for other persons". The law also bans "driving through a puddle causing pedestrians to be splashed".

Any driver convicted of doing this could be fined up to £5000 and receive points on their licence. Any case of this happening should be reported to the police as it is an enforceable offence outlined in British traffic law.