Residents fear a family could be killed if Transport for London doesn’t impose a 20mph speed limit on a Lewisham road where a car crashed into a nursery.

Locals say it’s a “miracle” no-one died after a car veered off Amersham Road slammed into a fence surrounding LEYF pre-school on Tuesday, August 23.

Firefighters and police rushed to the nursery in New Cross after a black Kia careened into a wall outside of it at around 5pm.

Photos of the aftermath show a blue fence and sign for the nursery leaning over with bits of rubble strewn across the footpath. 

Locals say they’ve been calling on Transport for London, which manages the road, and Labour-led Lewisham Council to take action to improve road safety on the road for years without success.

Residents and the nursery are now calling for local politicians to introduce traffic calming measures immediately after years of delays. 

One local resident, Joshua, who declined to give his surname, said he’d been asking officials to improve safety on the road since he moved into the area six years ago.

He said: “The car went past the protective rails and through the nursery. It was a miracle that nobody was killed.

"It’s a miracle I’m not saying that a whole family has been wiped out. 

“It’s the only road in the whole chain of roads that’s 30mph. It encourages people to speed up.

"We keep getting fobbed off by Transport for London. They said there was no funding available for changes.

“If they can’t change anything else, can’t they just make it 20mph. It would cost nothing.

"I’ve seen tens and tens of accidents since I moved here. I’ve seen lots of near misses and garden walls being taken out.”

Joshua, a keen cyclist, said he avoided using his bike on the road because of the number of drivers who race along it at high speeds.

He added that he was worried about walking down the road with his wife and their five month old baby in case a car careened onto the footpath. 

A spokesperson for the London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), which runs the nursery, said: “The safety of our children is our top priority and thankfully none of them were present during the time of the incident.

"LEYF, along with local residents, continue to lobby local MPs to improve the road safety in the surrounding area and we welcome some decisive action to be taken without further delay.” 

A TfL spokesperson said: “Reducing danger on roads across the capital is a vital part of TfL’s Vision Zero commitment to eliminate death and serious injury.

"As part of our lowering speed limits programme we have already introduced a 20mph speed limit on 80km of our roads, including all of our roads within the central London Congestion Charging zone.

“We have identified other areas across London that could benefit from similar changes in speed limit, including Amersham Road, and are now working to lower speeds on 220km of our roads across inner and outer London by 2024.”

Cllr Louise Krupski, Lewisham’s cabinet member for environment and climate action, said: “Improving road safety remains a priority for us and I’m proud that all council-managed roads in the borough are already 20 mph.

"Where speeding is reported, we work with the local police to take enforcement action.  

“While Amersham Road is managed by Transport for London, we would support any measures on Amersham Road to improve road safety, including lowering the speed limit.”

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