'Something needs to be done before somebody else dies': Man knocked down in same spot woman died

Garry Wright, 59, was walking down Eyre Street at 7.30pm on Friday (December 20) when a car that was illegally parked mounted the pavement and knocked him down.

Now Mr Wright is appealing to the council to put an end to the accident black spot by better policing the illegal parking issue that put him in danger and was blamed for the death of 62-year-old Yvonne Neziri in an horrific bus collision in 2017.

He has slammed the council for doing nothing to make the area safer after Ms Neziri’s death and allowing accidents to continue to happen on Eyre Street.

Mr Wright said: “As I walked down the street a car that was parked mounted the curb and knocked me down.

“I was knocked to the floor and was on my hands and knees. I think the driver was trying to get out of the way of a tractor that was trying to get down the road but couldn’t because of the parked cars. He wasn’t looking and banged into me and I went down.

“I lost it. I was really shaken up. I told him that he shouldn’t have been parked there and that all the other cars shouldn’t be parked there because it is illegal. “I was fuming. It could have been anybody that was hit on that road. It could have been a person with a kid.

“Only two years ago a woman died when she was hit on that road. Cars are always dangerously parked there and nothing has been done. Is it going to take another person being killed to get anybody to do anything?”

Mr Wright explained that there is a free car park on Eyre Street, a few seconds’ walk from where the cars are often illegally parked outside the takeaways.

“People should just use that car park and walk to the shops,” he said. “A person died and people still park on the road illegally.

“The council need to intervene and the ban on parking on Eyre Street needs to be better enforced. They need to police it.

“At the moment that doesn’t happen and it is busy in the day so people just park anywhere. Something needs to be done before somebody else dies.”

Derbyshire County Council has been contacted and the Derbyshire Times is awaiting a comment on the issue.

On November 30, 2017 Yvonne Neziri was hit by a bus on Eyre Street and was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 57-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving but was not charged.

At the time residents of Clay Cross campaigned to the council for better policing of parking on Eyre Street.