ACTION is being demanded to improve safety at a road junction between Ludlow and Tenbury that has been described as a death trap.

The call comes just weeks after a motorcyclist died in the latest of a series of accidents.

Vivienne Parry who represents Ludlow South on Shropshire Council says that there have been 29 deaths in the past two decades at the junction as well as numerous less serious accidents.

She would like to see traffic lights or a roundabout at the junction of the A49 and the A456 to Little Hereford and Tenbury.

To make the junction even worse it is effectively a staggered crossroads with the B4362 adjacent to the Salwey Arms.

“This junction is a death trap and the accident involving the motorcyclist is just the latest in a long line of serious accidents,” said Vivienne Parry.

“It is a very busy junction made worse because of the speed of the traffic coming in both directions on the A49. There is also a lay-by that is used by buses.”

She said that the time for action has long passed.

“There has to be action to make this safer,” added Vivienne Parry.

“I know people who simply will not turn right at this junction because they consider it to be too dangerous and take long diversions to avoid it.

“There needs to be traffic lights or a roundabout. In my view the roundabout option would be the best.”

In May a motorcycle rider died following a collision with a car at the junction. The accident happened on Saturday, May 27 at just before midday and resulted in an appeal for witnesses from the police.

Last December a woman was taken to hospital following a road accident involving a car and a lorry.

The woman was taken to hospital in an ambulance and fire fighters from Ludlow cleared up a spillage of petrol.

It happened on the A49 in the early morning on Tuesday, December 27.

The junction was also at the heart of a controversy at the beginning of 2016 resulting in a protest by residents.

This was related to a scheme to install a slip-road.

The junction between the A49 and A456 is the only way for people travelling between Tenbury and Ludlow to make the journey without having to go via Clee Hill using narrow country lanes.

Motorists turning right at the staggered cross roads have to negotiate two streams of fast moving traffic and residents say that adding a further turning within 200 metres of a complex junction would add further to the risk.

There was an accident in January 2016 when two cars were in collision.

In December 2015 a stretch of the A49 in the vicinity was closed when a lorry shed its load causing the road to be closed for 10 hours with a diversion through Tenbury that caused major disruption in the town.