THE coach crash last Wednesday has prompted further calls for the notorious “Southoes bends” to be straightened.

Emergency services were called to the northbound carriageway of the A1 at 5am after the coach, carrying rail passengers affected by the disruptions on the East Coast Mainline, collided with the central barrier.

And a motorist suffered minor injuries in a crash on the northbound carriageway at Southoe just after 3pm on Monday.

The driver was taken to Hinchingbrooke Hospital, in Huntingdon.

Alan Marnes, chairman of Southoe and Midloe Parish Council, said: “I don’t know who we have got to sit down and make understand what the problems are here. Everyone knows this is the worst stretch of the A1 in Cambridgeshire.

“I get the council statistics each year on the numbers of accidents and fatalities and it makes horrific reading. It’s like the murder mile between here and Diddington.

“There have been so many fatalities on this stretch of the road. Just one person that dies is a tragic loss for the family and the community – which can be prevented.”

Mr Marnes claims to see drivers approaching the bends at speeds of up to 90mph and often hears the sound of screeching tyres and horns.

“It needs to be straightened and it needs to be made into motorway standard,” he said. “That’s the only thing that will sort the problem out.”

Brampton resident Simon De Havilland, 29, was travelling to work in London when he passed the accident.

He said: “There were loads of police cars and a crane trying to lift the coach, which was right on the central reservation. It must have done a full 360.”