A SUPERMARKET company has vowed to review its delivery system after a lorry smashed into a fence outside a retirement complex.

Honley couple Eric and Cynthia Appleyard say they live in fear that a wagon will crash through into their home.

The husband and wife, who live at Burhouse Court, on New Street adjacent to the village’s Co-operative supermarket, say lorries have been causing havoc in the area as they struggle to manoeuvre into the store’s loading bay.

Mr Appleyard, 76, said the situation had deteriorated after he complained about the noise from deliveries in the early hours.

He said: “Three or four months ago lorries were coming in at 5am.

“I complained to Kirklees and they got it stopped and changed to 7am.

“They used to use the small seven tonne trucks, but after I complained they started sending the huge lorries.

“One has run into our fence and it was only six feet from our bedroom window, and on a number of occasions they’ve hit the lamp-post – if that comes down it will break in half and come crashing through our window.”

Mr Appleyard said he wanted the Manchester based company to return to the smaller trucks.

He said: “The other day one got stuck and it took half-an-hour to reverse down.

“This is a residential area and it’s an old folk’s complex. Every morning there’s children coming down to and from school.

“This doesn’t only pose a danger to us, it poses a danger to them.

“We shouldn’t have to sit here every morning worrying if a wagon’s going to come crashing through our window – it’s very stressful.”

A spokeswoman for The Co-operative Food, said: “We apologise for any damage caused to a neighbour’s railing and for any inconvenience.

“On this occasion, due to a delivery error, a larger vehicle than usual visited the store.

“We will review vehicular access to the store, to see if more appropriate vehicles, specifically designed for delivering to locations where access can be difficult, can be used in future.”

Mr Appleyard also claimed deliveries to the store were being made before the 7am agreed starter time.

But Co-op’s spokeswoman said they had addressed the matter.

She added: “We are aware of the concerns relating to deliveries at our Westgate store, and as a local community retailer we take any disruption caused by our delivery drivers seriously.

“We have worked with Kirklees Council to ensure that all deliveries are made no earlier than 7am.”

A Kirklees Council spokeswoman confirmed they had intervened.

She said: “Kirklees Environmental Health have received complaints about early morning deliveries at the Honley Co-op.

“The complaint was that the delivery vehicles were arriving before 7am and sometimes before 6am.

“We liaised with the Co-op and their transportation/distribution centre and agreed that deliveries should not occur before 7am.

“The Co-op were responsive and helpful with our requests. We have received further complaints from local residents that early morning deliveries continued following our initial intervention.

“This resulted in the management at Co-op being reminded of our agreement and asking individual delivery drivers to be reminded of the agreement.”