Last week, The Hunts Post spoke to Shirley and Tom Abblitt, the parents of Karen who died aged 20, some 28 years ago when her car went into the Forty Foot Drain, the very first time she drove it. Karen, from Ramsey, was driving her Austin Mini to March to

Last week, The Hunts Post spoke to Shirley and Tom Abblitt, the parents of Karen who died aged 20, some 28 years ago when her car went into the Forty Foot Drain, the very first time she drove it.

Karen, from Ramsey, was driving her Austin Mini to March to meet her fiancé for an evening out on a Saturday night. Her parents, having lost their only child, have joined The Hunts Post campaign to make the road safer. This week, LOUISE HUGHES spoke to Karen's fiance, Neil Green.

EVEN though life has moved on for Neil Green, he still avoids travelling along the Forty Foot, which claimed the life of his fiancé nearly 30 years ago.

In May 1978, Karen Abblitt crashed into the five-metre deep drain while driving her new Austin Mini.

Her father handed the keys over just hours before the tragic accident, and she was travelling along the Forty Food to visit Neil, who lived in March.

Last week, her parents, Tom and Shirley, backed the safety campaign being run by The Hunts Post with its sister paper, The Cambs Times.

We are calling for safety measures to be introduced along the notorious drainside road and now, Neil, who lives in West End, March, is in support.

"I still avoid the Forty Foot drain and take an alternative route whenever possible," he said. "I have a family of my own now, but when something tragic like that happens in your life, you never forget it."

Karen was an only child, and that day her car inexplicably shot across the road, hit the verge and went into the water as she approached Leonards Childs' Bridge.

Neil added: "Every time I pick up the paper, and read there has been another accident along that bloody drain, it turns my stomach. I think after all these years it's disgusting something hasn't been done.

"Good on Karen's mum and dad for going forward to support the campaign, and I'm behind them 100 per cent.