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OAP sprayed his own road markings on 'death trap' roundabout

A campaigning OAP has sprayed road markings close to a 'confusing' roundabout which he claims is a 'lethal' death trap after his local council failed to restore them. Battling Peter Sharratt, 71, went out at dawn to spray arrows indicating the lanes motorists needed to be in to travel onto two different roads. He claims a 'lethal lack of markings' has lead to motorists regularly coming into near collisions with other vehicles. Peter says drivers don't know which lane to be in at the confusing junction, near the junction of the A50 and A5033 in upmarket Knutsford, Cheshire. He says he was left frustrated after writing to his local council after the original road markings were removed during work a couple of months ago and not replaced. And after witnessing 'a number of near crashes' on the roundabout, he decided to take matters into his own hands. So on Sunday (June 4), he donned a high vis jacket, armed himself with spray cans of white paint and set out to fix the road himself at 4.30am on Sunday. He spray painted the instructions for motorists, which he's dubbed 'mark out to help out' and used his car to block off the road as he worked. Peter, a retired journalist, said: "I thought it was a very dangerous situation. "I regularly drive on this road and people are very confused about which lane they should be in. "I had witnessed a number of near crashes on the roundabout by people not knowing which lane they should be in. “I wrote to the council about this only to receive a perfunctory and unhelpful response. "They didn’t say they were able to do anything any time soon." Peter said contractors dug up the road for electrical work a couple of months ago, but the roundabout was never put back to its previous condition. He also said he has contacted Cheshire East Council about the roundabout but was given an 'unhelpful response.' Peter said: “These markings were there for a very good reason. These signs urgently need doing. "This work should be put at the top of their priority list. "It beggars belief that the council is now relying on a 71-year-old pensioner with a spray can to do the work we already pay them for. "Permanent markings please. “When the council sanctioned contractors to dig up the road for electrical work on the bypass many months ago, they should have ensured it was put back into its previous condition." Fellow local Jim Burgess highlighted the dangers posed by the lack of markings in a letter to the local newspaper. He said some drivers don’t realise that the left lane at the roundabout is for turning left while the right lane is for going straight and turning right. In his letter, Mr Burgess urged the council to get the road markings renewed ‘as a matter of urgency before there is a really serious accident’. He wrote: "The roundabout is always busy and an accident there causes significant backlogs in all directions. "I myself had a very near miss this week and it was only an emergency stop on my part which avoided an accident." Cheshire East Council have been contacted for a comment.