A WHEDDON Cross woman is calling on highways chiefs to protect her home and business, which has been hit by vehicles at least 50 times in more than a decade.

Sandra Worrell has lived at The Old Post Office with her husband Brian and three children for the past 12 years.

The building, at the junction of the B3224 and the A396, has suffered thousands of pounds of damage and the family is now unable to get insurance cover against impact.

And the latest incident just a week ago, in which part of the roof and corner wall of her son's bedroom was taken off, has left Sandra, who runs a hairdressing salon from the property, demanding action.

"We've been raising this problem for years but we have got nowhere with Somerset County Council," she said.

"This junction simply cannot take 16-wheel vehicles - in fact even the 12-wheel ones struggle to negotiate it.

"I'm absolutely fed up and a nervous wreck over this and I want something done about it."

Sandra has told the county council that she wants large vehicles diverted to another route.

"Failing that, I've asked the council if it will buy our house, knock it down and improve the road.

"I don't want to move from here but I just don't know how much more I can take."

Since the family moved into the property, it has been "bumped" by vehicles an average of four times a year.

And last October, it took five hits in just one month.

"Sometimes we manage to get out there in time and get the driver's details but there have been several hit and runs," said Sandra.

"We've been hit at 4am in the morning, late at night - in fact at all times of the day and night.

"And sometimes the drivers involved can be quite aggressive and refuse to give their names.

'We really need a structural engineer to assess the current state of the building but we can't afford to get one in because we can't get insurance."

Although there are signs at the junction advising vehicles, Sandra insists these are ambiguous and do not make the difficulties clear.

"I'm just so fed up with the situation and there seems no way out of it," she said.

A county council spokesman said the authority was sorry to hear about the latest incident.

"In recent months we have carried out some works to the road surface on he B3224 outside this house to assist with matters," he said.

"The county council is working with local councillors and the parish council to see if improvements can be made to the road signage to improve the situation here."

Photo: Steve Guscott