Vow to keep up A1 safety pressure after fatal crash

Thomas Allen died following a crash near Belford on Sunday, while a man and a woman were also rushed to hospital in a critical condition.

Mr Allen, 38, of Throckley, was driving a Nissan Note northbound when he was in collision with a Toyota Auris travelling in the opposite direction.

A man and a woman who were in the Auris have been taken to hospital and remain in a critical but stable condition. Two young children, who were also in the Auris, were taken to hospital as a precaution with minor injuries.

The accident is the third serious collision on the road in the county in recent weeks.

Three children - aged nine, eight and two - were among five people taken to hospital with serious injuries when their car collided with a tractor and a hay bale trailer on the southbound carriageway on Monday, August 26.

Then a 74-year-old woman suffered ‘life-changing injuries’ when her car collided with a tractor on the road on Thursday, September 12.

Coun Glen Sanderson, the county council’s cabinet member with responsibility for roads, met officials from Highways England, the Government agency responsible for the country’s A-roads and motorways, on Friday.

He said last week he wanted to see a safety review of the road carried out.

He said the agency had agreed to look at the road – but not for some time: “The Highways Agency appears to be somewhat short of funds to invest in significant schemes on this particular stretch of road.

“But they said they would be looking at this next year.

“It is the same as the situation the county council is in – there is never enough money to tackle all the priorities, although I have to say I do think some relatively inexpensive signage improvements would help. I did say that for the sake of a relatively small amount of expenditure, I would really welcome some work being done. I will be following this up over the next few months to see what they do.”