PENDLE councillors have called for an urgent meeting to discuss the condition of the A56 Earby Road before someone is killed on it.

Ward councillor Rosemary Carroll told the executive committee that stretch between Earby and Thornton-in Craven was so bad it had been renamed Pot Hole Parade.

She said: "It is totally disgraceful. It is only suitable if you are in an off-road vehicle. We do our best in Pendle and no disrespect is meant to the highways department but enough is enough. It is just pot hole after pot hole and there's no road left.

"Large vehicles not only have difficulty passing each other but they also get stuck. We have to urge the county to do something about this road."

Coun Frank Clifford said: "It is highly dangerous for people on two wheels -- pedal cycle or motorcycle. It is not a 'comfortable' road. No matter how you try on four wheels to avoid the pot holes, you fail miserably.

"Sadly we have people who are taken sick and need to journey over that road in an ambulance. It must be a traumatic experience. I hope we can support the ward councillor in asking that this situation be addressed as a matter of urgency."

Coun Azhar Ali agreed that an urgent meeting should be convened with the county council and ward councillors and that it should be held in Earby so that they would have to use the road.

He said: "It is difficult for cars to pass when there's a lorry coming round the corner, especially when they don't know the road.

"One of these days there is going to be a fatality because of the way the road is set out."

West Craven's Coun David Whipp said the road needed resurfacing but not straightening as that would add to the traffic travelling through Earby, particularly lorries.