A MAN who returned home to find a car had plunged 20ft into the side of his flat fears it will happen again.
In October, a car parked at a house in Crofton Close - a cul-de-sac in Linthwaite - rolled down the hill and over a banking after its handbrake failed.
But Kirklees Council has refused to put in a barrier at the top of the banking to protect the properties in Waingate below because the road is unadopted.
Arran Richardson, 27, says that if another car were to come down the banking someone could be killed.
He has asked Kirklees to put a barrier in as a matter of public safety. But council chiefs have said no.
Because Mr Richardson works away his father, Paul, has taken on the campaign to get a barrier.
He said: "It is stupid that there is nothing at the edge of the road. This is a death trap.
"I have been in touch with the council and they don't even seem to listen.
"How anybody got planning permission to build in Crofton Close in the first place I do not know.
"One of the owners of a car parked in Crofton Close already puts bricks under the wheels to stop it moving should the brakes fail.
"The drop is at the edge of a turning circle as well, so it is not just runaway cars that are a worry.
"At this time of the year it gets very icy and if someone was to turn too quickly they could easily lose control."
Mr Richardson, who lives in Slaithwaite, is convinced it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt or even killed.
"There is an old lady who lives next to my son. What if she had been out gardening when this car came over the banking?" he said.
"Arran was out, but if he had been in bed breeze blocks would have hit him. Something needs to be done."
But Mr Richardson's pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
A Kirklees highways spokesman said: "Crofton Close is a private road for the joint use of the residents.
"In the circumstances it is not possible for the council to carry out work of any nature."
