THERE have been calls for a review of the safety of the A303 near Andover following a tragic accident last month that saw three people killed by a lorry.

The road has been labelled a “hotspot for accidents” with one councillor saying that the lack of a hard shoulder is a “big mistake”.

On August 25, three people were killed in a multi-vehicle crash between the A3057 junction and the A3093 junction

Two kind drivers, Tom Watson and Tina Ince, had stopped to help mother-of-two Alex Britton after she broke down at the side of the road. Tragically, all three were later killed in an incident involving a HGV.

Tom was a recovery truck driver with Avery Recovery, and was on his way to another job in Andover when he pulled over to come to Alex’s aid.

Speaking to ITV, his employer Ray Avery said: “If Tom hadn’t of stopped, he would still be here today, maybe. But Tom thought of others and he put others first.”

He continued: “There seems to be a lack of concentration and people need to be made aware of what a dangerous tool they are driving and how they are in control, or unfortunately oftentimes out of control.”

The stretch of road where the incident happened has no hard shoulder, making it all the more difficult for breakdown operations.

Avery employee Will Vincent added: “You are putting your own life in the hands of other people. We do as much as we can to make ourselves known, but at the end of the day it’s down to the other people coming towards you to realise what’s going on ahead of them.”

Staff are supporting a national campaign called Slow Down or Move Over, designed to protect roadside workers and inform the general public about the action they should be taking when a “temporary hazard” occurs.

Speaking to The Advertiser, Aja Jaques, compliance officer at Avery Recovery, said: “It’s to raise awareness really, and drawing attention to the fact that if you see those flashing lights, slow down or move over. Unfortunately, in rush hour traffic, people don’t always do that.

“What [the campaign] wants to do is ask the government to make some changes. One being amber lights [on recovery vehicles] going to red lights.

“Our drivers undertake training and a lot of it deals with being safe, but ultimately it’s down to other drivers being aware.

“We don’t want Tom’s death to be in vain, and we are asking people to back the campaign.”

Aja also raised concerns about the A303, which the company has noted is a ‘hotspot’ for accidents.

She said: “That particular road is well known for accidents. It does seem to be a hotspot for accidents to occur. We would like to think that [a review of its safety] would happen now.”

Cllr Iris Andersen: “I do not feel there is enough flashing notices on these roads, telling people to get in if there’s been a breakdown. If you go to Scandinavia, or the German autobahn, we are not just there.

“No hard shoulder is the biggest mistake. They need to do something, something has to be put in place. Things need to be looked into now. It’s serious.”

When asked how they intend to address safety in the area following the incident, National Highways route manager Greg Stone said: “At National Highways safety is our top priority, and our vision is for everyone who travels on our network to get home safe and well.

“Our long-term ambition is to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on the strategic road network to a number approaching zero by 2040.

“We plan to achieve this challenging vision through a mixture of safety engineering schemes and network improvements, customer engagement, and through our work as part of road safety partnerships across the region with organisations such as police forces, fire and rescue services, and other highway authorities.”