A TRAFFIC calming scheme on a Torquay road has been blamed for turning a neighbouring street into a dangerous rat-run.

Ellacombe Road was last summer made into a one-way street as part of a £60,000 project.

Residents in neighbouring Victoria Road say their narrow blind bend road has since seen traffic increase enormously, leading to an rise in the number of crashes and shunts.

Lorry driver and father-of-two Russell Kent said at least seven accidents had happened since the Sustrans road scheme had been implemented in September.

He said: "It has definitely got worse. We all have cars and nowhere to park. Lorries have even started using the road as a rat run.

"Since Ellacombe Road was made one-way, it's more difficult to go through there and traffic is coming here instead."

Mr Kent, 46, who has lived in the street for 14 years, said Victoria Road was particularly dangerous as it is very narrow and there is not enough space for two cars to pass.

The road is also on a slope and has a bend making it a blind spot.

Mr Kent added: "Some of the cars are flying down here at 50mph. It's a blind road with a large angle.

"For young kids it's worse because they don't always look and cars are coming down so fast. If the road is not made one way or traffic slowed down in any way we'll have a fatality."

Mr Kent said the only way to avoid shunts was to put speed bumps in place or make the road one way.

Mr Kent, who took pictures of two car crashes which happened outside his house this week, added: "We have a play park right opposite with a new sports facility just been built and the children have to run the gauntlet to get to it. How long before one dies?

"We don't have any councillors living on our road and we feel like we're getting left out."

There were two accidents in October in Victoria Road, a month after the Ellacombe traffic scheme was completed.

Two other shunts happened on Sunday, February 14, and again on February 18.

A spokesman for Torbay Council said: "We are not aware of any specific problems on Victoria Road since the introduction of the one-way system on Ellacombe Road.

"We work closely with the Community Partnership on road improvement schemes, which are monitored and reviewed after a year. We would be happy to meet any resident who has concerns about the scheme."

Ward councillor Cindy Stocks, who lives in Ellacombe Road, also said she was not aware of any increase in the number of road accidents in Victoria Road.

She said: "I will speak with the police about this. As for making the road one-way, there is a system in place for people to go through. I would be happy for any resident to get in touch with me about this issue."