BUSINESS leaders in Bewdley are saying "I told you so" to highways chiefs after a car smashed into a set of new railings - which many shopkeepers had snubbed in the first place.

Spokesman for the Bewdley Chamber of Trade Colin Billingham said the damage done to the railings at Welch Gate by a BMW would never have happened had a different design been used.

He said the chamber had recommended higher kerbs or special crash barriers when they were erected last August - a move which he said would have prevented the crash, at the top end of Welch Gate above the town centre.

But officers at Wyre Forest Highways Partnership said barriers made especially to deflect vehicles could not be installed without special permission as Welch Gate is a conservation area.

Mr Billingham, who estimated the damage to the railings at £1,000, still urged a meeting to be held with partnership bosses, a move supported by town councillor Nigel Knowles, who lives in Welch Gate, to discuss the issue.

"This is a total waste of taxpayers money and we need to get together and find solutions to the problem," he said after the accident on April 25.

"If this amount of damage can be done by one car, this must surely tell us that the barrier is totally useless and a waste of money."