RESIDENTS are calling for action to curb speeding drivers after a series of crashes close to Middlesbrough Cathedral.

The latest collision took place in Coulby Newham on Saturday when five people – including two girls aged five – were taken to hospital for treatment following a two-car collision.

At about noon on Saturday at the Stainton Way/Newham Way roundabout a grey Ford Focus carrying a man and three children collided with a white Transit van with two men inside.

They were treated for minor injuries and later released.

Now Coulby Newham independent councillor Michael Hudson said he is going to request for the speed limit to be reduced to 30mph on part of the road, and for a speed counter to monitor the average speed on Stainton Way.

A local resident, who did not want to be named, said: “This is the latest in a series of car crashes on Stainton Way next to the Cathedral.

"There have been at least ten crashes in the last two years which I have passed on this roundabout as it is near to my house. Some cars have ended up on their roofs due to the speed at which the crashes occur.

“People don’t slow down on the approach to it – they just continue at over 40mph.

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said in the last three years there had been only four collisions where people had been injured recorded by police in the area.

This does not include damage-only collisions which have not been reported to police.

She said the Neighbourhood Policing team had not been made aware of a problem.

“However, if residents do have concerns it would be beneficial to attend a community council meeting and raise it as a priority,” she said.

“That way, we and our partners could look into introducing measures such as a community speedwatch scheme which is being used to great effect elsewhere in the Cleveland force area.”

In May this year a 75-year-old man crashed into a signpost on Stainton Way and in 2010 a man was knocked off his bike and treated in hospital after colliding with a car on Newham Way.

*Police dealt with several car crashes over the weekend. On Saturday a cyclist was in collision with a dark blue Renault Scenic on Low Lane at the junction with Thornaby Road, near Ingleby Barwick. The cyclist was treated at the scene and taken to hospital by paramedics. In another accident on Oxford Road, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, at 10.15 on Saturday a woman had to be cut free from a car. The crash was between a green Vauxhall Vectra and a black Ford Fiesta. Fire crews helped to free a woman from the car who was then taken to hospital by paramedics.