A NEWLY-bought speed indicator device (SID) and its post in Claylands Corner, Stogursey, has been destroyed after a car crashed into it the first time it was used.

Parish councillors were told matters became even worse when within two days a second post in Idson Lane which was to have been used for the SID ‘disappeared without trace’.

It was one of two SIDs plus five posts which the council bought with a grant received from Hinkley Point C’s community fund.

The devices were to be run be on a three-weekly cycle and moved between the five posts in the parish.

The intent was that the SIDs would not only help reduce speeding, but also collect data which could be used in the future to support requests for speed reduction measures.

Councillors heard the remaining SID was successfully registering the number of vehicles using local roads and recording instances of speeding.

The parish council has also been in dialogue with Hinkley C management about alleged continual speeding on local roads by its workers.

Hinkley managers said they were happy for the council to provide the registration details of vehicles which were suspected to be speeding.

Councillors were also told that despite public concerns about speeding, the cost involved in introducing lower speed limits on roads would be ‘prohibitive’.

A grant funding scheme which used to help parishes meet the cost of introducing 20 mph zones had now been closed.

Councillors were also concerned about surface water on the road between Stogursey and Burton, where both Wessex Water and Somerset Highways had made initial investigations and found that it was not a spring or a mains water leak.

It was believed instead the problem could be an old disused pipe, and highways staff would continue to look into the issue.