A GRANDMOTHER who nearly lost five members of her family in a crash on the Grane Road is backing our campaign to stop the carnage.

Beryl Richardson's daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren were involved in Monday's horror smash near Ogden Reservoir.

Now Mrs Richardson, who lost her husband in a car crash 20 years ago, says something must be done to make the Grane Road safer before anyone else is killed or injured.

Mrs Richardson, of Spout House Farm, Haslingden, said: "It is a terrible road. Something has got to be done about it.

"Since the motorway was built it has become an absolute rat run, yet as I understand it the motorway was put up to stop the heavy traffic going along the Grane."

"It is a beautiful road as far as scenery is concerned but I have been cut up on that road."

Mrs Richardson said the first she knew of Monday's accident was when her daughter, Michelle Wolfenden, 35, of Bank Street, Shuttleworth, telephoned to say she thought her husband, Steven, was dead.

Fortunately when Steven, 38, was airlifted to Royal Preston Hospital his injuries were found to be superficial.

The injuries suffered by his wife and their children Joseph, 11, and six-year-old Jack, were also minor, but their 11-year-old niece, Toni Moden from Cleveleys, suffered a bad head wound.

All are now recovering at home. Mrs Richardson said: "My family are here to tell the story and I am grateful for that but it is the trauma of it all.

"And we have to watch Toni closely because she had meningitis four years ago."

Mrs Richardson said she accepted that money was a major consideration when improvements to the road were being looked at.

But she said: "The thing that struck me is the amount of money these accidents cost. If that money was used for improvements the accidents would not happen."

She said she was prepared to stand in the road with placards if it meant the authorities would take action to improve the road.

"I don't think double white lines all the way along will solve it. What you are going to get is one person who will ignore the lines and there could be a death," she said.

"I nearly had five members of my family wiped out there in a matter of seconds.

"It could be another family involved in an accident tomorrow, another one next week, unless something is done."

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