A MOTHER-of-two yesterday called for speed restrictions on a County Durham road where a teenage driver lost his life this week.

Michael Allan Stones, 19, died at the scene on a stretch of the A181 near to its junction with the unclassified road leading to the Durham village of Old Cassop.

Lucinda Fleming-Jones, whose home overlooks the blackspot has repeatedly warned of the dangers near the junction, but now fears there will be further tragedies following the commencement of work on the Bowburn link road on Monday.

With their normal route out of the village on the Bowburn to Byers Garth road closed, residents in the quiet backwater's 20 houses, will now, says Lucinda, be faced with "dicing with death'' every day at the unmarked junction onto the A181.

The unclear junction lies only yards from the bottom of the Silent Bank dual carriageway and Lucinda and her husband Guy have already called for the Highways Authority to introduce a speed limit along the dangerous stretch.

The couple, who have two children Dylan, aged four, and Ella, who will be two next month, fear Old Cassop residents and visitors to the community now face increased road safety perils.

Anxious to extend their "sincerest condolences" to the family of Mr Stones, Lucinda said: "It is so sad that someone else's tragedy has had to bring this danger spot to the notice of the authorities. From next week we will have to use this junction to enter and exit our village for the next 14 weeks and we are appealing, as a matter of urgency, for Durham County Council to invoke essential speed restrictions before another family is faced with tragedy."

Responding to the appeal, Durham County Council's head of Highway Management Services, Roger Elphick said: "We are looking into the circumstances of this tragic accident and while we shall take account of the points raised by Mrs Fleming-Jones, it is not immediately apparent that a speed limit reduction is appropriate.

"Although our records show there have been a number of minor accidents on this section of road, none have been caused by traffic turning out of the junction in question."