A MAYOR has called for lorries to be fitted with a new device which should prevent the repeat of two crashes in the last fortnight in the Ribble Valley.

Ribble Valley mayor Coun Chris Holtom made his plea following an accident last Tuesday when a woman had to be cut out of her car after a lorry travelling along Whalley New Road, Langho, clipped a railway bridge and toppled over.

Gillian Smith, of Moorland Avenue, Clitheroe, was discharged from the Royal Preston Hospital yesterday afternoon.

She had been airlifted to the the hospital after suffering head and leg injuries.

That accident happened just over a week after another lorry overturned after colliding with the same bridge.

Both accidents caused traffic chaos on the road - one of the main links between the Ribble Valley and Blackburn - and disrupted train services between Blackburn and Clitheroe.

Coun Holtom, who is also the county councillor for the area, has now approached Lancashire County Council's highways department to ask for more signs to be placed near to the bridge warning lorry drivers their vehicles won't be able to squeeze through.

But he also wants haulage firms to start installing a new tracking device which warns lorry drivers if they are approaching a low bridge and gives them time to switch to an alternative road. They cost between £150-£200 each and have had successful trials on programmes like Tomorrow's World.

He said: "Seatbelts have had to be fitted to coaches and now I feel that lorries should be fitted with this device.

"The bridge has been there for a very long time and people should know that lorries can't get under it.

"To make alterations to the bridge would cost a lot of money, money which is better spent elsewhere.

"Lorry firms should be obliged to fix these new devices to their vehicles. These accidents cause a lot of disruption, cost money and put lives at risk."

He added: "I will also be asking the county council to place hanging signs from the bridge so that drivers will here a scraping noise if their vehicle is too big.

"I have seen lorry drivers chance the bridge to see if they can squeeze through. That has to stop."

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said officers believed there were already adequate signs in place.

He added: "Our records show there have been seven accidents there in five years."