is hospitalised in bike hangar collision that ‘council

By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.uk

an ElEvEn-month-old baby was hospitalised after a car collided with a roadside bike hangar which councillors were reportedly warned was dangerously placed. It was the second collision in three months involving the bike storage box on Grove Lane, at the junction with Stories Road, in Demark Hill. The baby is believed to have made a full recovery.

The News understands that Southwark Council had been warned about its placement and that the council’s roads chief, Cllr Catherine Rose, had said she would “follow up” on whether the hangar should be moved - yet the hangar remained in place.

A Grove Lane Area Residents’ Association (GLARA) spokesperson said: “We as

WAS £11.20 NOW £8.00 residents are ready and willing to work with the council to make improvements to Grove Lane and we want to see the council honour its manifesto commitments to reduce traffic on main roads - because this was foreseeable given it was the second accident on Grove Lane involving the bike hangar in the last three months.”

The bike hangar was installed in autumn 2021, alongside another on Harfield Gardens.

The eleven-month-old baby and a woman were hospitalised following a collision involving the bike hangar at around 2.30pm on March 6.

Neighbours said the mother of the child was “beyond distraught”. No arrests were made.

There was also a collision involving the same hangar at 5.59pm on December 2, 2022, but thankfully nobody was hurt.

It is understood that, in October 2021, Cllr Rose met with GLARA representatives to discuss ways of improving Grove Lane.

It is believed that Cllr Rose promised to review several aspects of the road layout including the bike hangar’s placement. No action appears to have taken and, astonishingly, the bike hangar was replaced following the December collision.

Some residents believe Grove Lane has become more dangerous due to the Dulwich Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) and Champion Hill No Entry Scheme. They say the schemes have displaced more traffic onto main thoroughfares like Grove Lane.

However, according to Southwark Council’s traffic analysis data, traffic on Grove Lane has fallen by 12.7 per cent compared to pre-Covid levels.

But a Times investigation previously found that MetroCount, the company responsible for gathering many local authorities’ traffic data, could be underestimating traffic flow. Southwark Council has been approached for comment.