Mother 'blanked' over road safety pleas after murder

A mother has said she feels "blanked" by a council over her calls for road safety improvements in a town centre where her son was killed when he was hit by a van.

Samuel Wilson, 26, died in December 2023 in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, when Zac Newman drove a van into a group in Market Place. He was later convicted of murder.

Nearly three years on, Loraine Wilson said nothing had changed at the location despite a campaign and petition to improve what she calls "basic safety measures."

Derbyshire County Council said it did not wish to comment on any plans for the area before speaking to the family, which it expects to do in the coming days.

Wilson told the BBC she felt "let down" by the council.

"I didn't expect anything to happen overnight but I didn't think it would take this long... I've been looking into it for two and a half years", she said.

"I think it proves with the signatures we've got, over 7,000 signatures, people want the Market Place to be safer.

"We feel like we're being blanked...I'm sort of a nobody in the council's world but you'd like to think you can make a little bit of a mark [after] such a tragic thing that's happened.

"It's not a minor thing that happened. My son lost his life."

Dozens of bollards are already in place in Market Square and traffic is completely banned between 10:00 and 16:00, but vehicles are allowed in for access at other times. Loraine wants the bollards to be permanent.

The area is framed by pubs and bars with many people gathering in the area in the evenings, especially at weekends.

Wilson said her son was waiting for a taxi when Newman - who the trial judge said was looking for trouble and under the influence of cocaine and alcohol - fetched his work van from a nearby car park and drove it at the group.

Newman was found guilty of Sam's murder at Derby Crown Court in July 2024, and of wounding with intent and attempted grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to two other men who were injured by the van. He was ordered to serve a minimum of 24 years in prison.

"For the last two and a half years we've been campaigning just for basic safety measures in the Market Place - bollards, cameras, anything really," Wilson said.

"We've not had a response, nothing... we don't get any answers."

Derbyshire County Council has written to the Erewash MP Adam Thompson in the past to say that installing bollards was "challenging".

But Wilson said it was one of many measures that could be put in place to improve pedestrian safety.

"If they put cameras [there] they could make thousands every day, because there are so many vehicles that go up and down that shouldn't do. Just a camera," she said.

WIlson and Thompson said that vehicles regularly ignored the rules on access hours and current bollard infrastructure was insufficient.

She added she had heard nothing from the council about any plans to take action after finally managing to meet with the cabinet member for highways, Charlotte Hill, on the issue in April of this year, despite the MP claiming he was told by leaders improving safety in the area was a "priority".

Having attended the meeting with Wilson and the council in April, Thompson said he was seeking clarification on claims that full road layout plans for the Market Place had either been lost or do not exist, and had requested evidence that current signage and enforcement on Market Place were sufficient.

Last month Thompson also wrote to Hill expressing frustration about "months of silence and inaction".

"Only after repeated chases and a direct appeal to Reform Derbyshire's leader Alan Graves did councillor Hill finally respond," he said.

"Even then, they only committed to look into installing a barrier between the John Warren and Kings Head pubs.

"While this would be welcome, it stops well short of the action needed to make Ilkeston market place truly safe.

"A comprehensive review into safety for pedestrians is needed, and the present road traffic rules on the Market Place are not fit for purpose."

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