THE father of a teenager who was hit by a vehicle in Bentham has called for road improvements at the scene of the accident.

Bernie Wills, of Tatterthorn Road, wants to see a pavement between Springfield and Mount Pleasant. This is the second time he has made the plea, the first being some 15 years ago.

Mr Wills' 16-year-old son Matthew was walking from Mount Pleasant to Springfield at about 6.30pm on December 12 when he was struck by a light coloured pick-up vehicle.

"Matthew was walking on the correct side of the road wearing a light reflective jacket. He saw the vehicle coming towards him. Realising the danger he tried to get out of the way but there was nowhere to go," Mr Wills told Bentham Town Council.

"The vehicle struck him, ripping three layers of clothing and puncturing a neat, small but deep hole in his shoulder. He is still receiving treatment though we think he will make a full recovery. The driver failed to stop. He may not have known he had hit anyone, though he was speeding."

Mr Wills added: "This incident was totally preventable. There is no pavement on that stretch of road, not even a grass verge. I remember asking for this glaring absence of safe footway to be remedied some 15 years ago. Absolutely nothing has been done. It is only good luck that I was not attending the funeral of my son."

Bentham people have been asking for a footpath in the area for around 40 years, and Coun Wendy Heigh recalled her father, William Joel, going to see every landowner along the stretch and getting their agreement to give up some land to make a pavement some years ago.

However, North Yorkshire County Council failed to take up the scheme.

Councillors agreed with Mr Wills' that the £50,000 which is going to be spent on traffic calming in the town should include a pavement between Mount Pleasant and Springfield. He also suggested extending the 30mph zone at the Clapham end of High Bentham, and erecting four new streetlights from One Ash to Bell Bank.

He added that by making the section between Mount Pleasant and Springfield one way, a pavement could be built without the council needing to acquire any land.

Mr Wills said: "I hear that for an improvement scheme to rise in priority on the list pending drawn up by the highways authority, it must amass points and the most points are acquired by a death or two or perhaps three to rise to the top. Frankly I am disgusted that deaths are required to achieve fund allocation for such an obvious improvement."

Councillors decided to contact the highways authority area traffic manager Bill Isherwood for an urgent public meeting to discuss the forthcoming traffic calming measures and to ensure that the scheme included what local people wanted.