A COUNTY councillor is calling for a narrow lane on the edge of Malvern to be closed to traffic following a crash involving two cars this week.

No-one was seriously injured in the crash on Monday evening in Grit Lane, but Trinity ward councillor John Raine says the crash is the latest in a long line of accidents, and action should be taken before someone is hurt.

He said: "Grit Lane is a narrow road running between Leigh Sinton Road and Tanhouse Lane, and drivers speed along it, using it as a rat run.

"There's an almost right-angle bend to the left just after its junction with Tanhouse Lane, and a lot of drivers get into trouble there. The lamp columns there have been knocked down several times, and there have been a lot more crashes that don't come to the county council's attention because people sort themselves out."

At the urging of local residents, Cllr Raine has been in touch with Worcestershire County Council's highways department in search of a solution.

He said: "I think even something as drastic as closing it to traffic at the Leigh Sinton Road end should be considered, because that will stop it being a rat run, even though it means residents will have to use Tanhouse Lane as their only access."

Resident Allan Page said that a young man in a red car was unable to stop to when he met another car coming towards him in the narrow section of Grit Lane.

"To avoid a head-on collision, this driver in the red car took evasive action by careering up the side of the bank to miss the car coming in the opposite direction.

"In doing so he took out most of the hedging belonging to the house on the right. The car turned over, passing over the top of the yellow car and coming to rest on its roof behind the yellow car. The elderly lady driver in the yellow car was badly shocked and shaken."

Mr Page said it was a "sheer miracle" that nobody was killed in the crash.

Police confirmed they were called to an incident at about 7.15pm on Monday involving two cars, a Peugeot and a Volkswagen Golf.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said that an ambulance and a responder paramedic were called to the scene at and two people treated for minor injuries, but no-one was taken to hospital.