7th August 2008

Backing for trailer campaign

There is just a week left to sign a petition started after the death of a four-year-old boy in Heage.

Finlay Martin was killed when a trailer being towed by a car came off in Old Road.

He had been walking with his mum, Zoe, to pick his sister, Millie, up from the village primary school when the accident happened.

The trailer was later found to have defective breaks and no breakaway cable fitted – a device that should have stopped it from moving once it broke away.

After the incident Juliette Blake, borough councillor for Heage and Ambergate, started an online petition to the Prime Minister to make sure all trailers undergo MoTs and are fitted with the cables.

It currently has 1,284 names and a poll on the Belper News website asking whether MoTs should be introduced for trailers saw 96 per cent of readers vote for yes.

Cllr Blake said: "I am over the moon that the votes cast in the Belper News indicate an overwhelming support for the trailer safety MoT campaign.

"I intend to report the results to the government to strengthen our case for this much-needed common sense legislation."

To sign the petition click here.