A MAN whose house had to be rebuilt after a car smashed into it has added his voice to residents fears over the new A44.

David Beacon, who lives on the Worcester Road, has called the road a "death trap" and called for improvements before the A4538 becomes the A44 when it is reclassified later this year.

Mr Beacon's comments echoed those of other residents living along the Worcester Road who have said it has become an accident blackspot after two deaths in less than two years and have called for action.

The most recent of these happened on Sunday, October 13. Elsie Rodgers, aged 88, of Harbourne, Birmingham, died when the car she was travelling in hit a road sign and grass verge before flipping onto its roof and colliding with a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction. In January 2001, Evesham man David Meddings died when his car left the road and crashed into a pond.

On Sunday, February 3, Mr Beacon returned home from a day out with his wife, Margaret, to find that a silver Ford Galaxy had ploughed into the side of their house.

The damage to the house was so great that the couple were forced to find temporary accommodation in Snowshill while their property was being rebuilt. They only moved back in to their house in Mill Lane two months ago.

Mr Meddings said: "They have got to do something along this road. I heard the air ambulance the other day and I knew that something had happened at that corner.

"They should extend the white lines another 300 yards down the road and we could do with a speed limit of between 40 or 50mph. I can sit in my house on Sunday mornings and it's like a race track.

"This road is a death trap. Drivers do not observe the speed limits or pay any attention to road conditions."