Family blame Alnwick road for Peter Pringle’s death

Jul 17 2009 by Robert Weatherall, The Journal

THE devastated family of crash victim Peter Pringle have said they believe the poor state of the road he was driving on could have caused his death.

Peter’s grieving relatives believe that if the road surface he had been driving on had been better maintained he might still be alive today.

Peter lost control of his red Vauxhall Corsa and hit a tree on a quiet country road just outside Alnwick. Eyewitnesses state he was only travelling at 40mph and that his car left the road for no obvious reason.

But now having been back to the scene of Peter’s accident a number of times his loved ones believe a defect in the road, just before the sweeping bend where he lost his life, could be responsible.

Northumberland was recently declared the second worst county in the UK for the number of potholes on roads. Peter’s uncle Paul Hoskins said: “I live in Cornwall and whenever my wife and I come up here we notice how bad the roads are. Northumberland has got to have one of the worst road systems in the country.

“We know that there is a small patch just before the stretch where Peter died where the road isn’t fully intact. The road surface is crumbling away and we suspect that if a car wheel was to go in there it could make the driver lose control.”

The road where Peter had his accident is a minor unclassified road just off the B6341. It is one many such country lanes which criss-cross the county.