A CARDROSS resident says the village’s new Co-op store is creating a road safety hazard for local residents.

Ffinlo Costain told the Reporter that motorists were using the car park of the new Main Road store as a short-cut between the main A814 Dumbarton-Helensburgh road and residential areas in the north of the village.

Mr Costain says that children attending Cardross Primary School and the Nursery Rhymes pre-5 facility – the latter located opposite the new store, on the south side of Main Road – were particularly at risk.

He said: “The bottom end of Barr’s Road, where it meets the Main Road, was closed off for safety reasons.

“The Co-op has effectively re-opened that road, but more dangerously, because the safety features of a road junction are not in place.

“It always seemed like a strange planning decision to allow a one way route to be restored, but I had assumed that some mitigation would be put in place to ensure speeds in the car park were close to zero.”

Mr Costain said he had witnessed a car speeding through the car park from Main Road to Barrs Road at about 30 miles an hour.

He added: “I was going from the entrance back to my parked car at the time. If my kids had been a couple of yards slower, then I would have no kids, or kids in hospital.

“There are a number of options to consider but my feeling is that the situation is a nasty accident waiting to happen.”

Mr Costain put his concerns to Co-op management and to officials at Argyll and Bute Council.

A Co-op spokeswoman said: “Ensuring our car parks offer a safe environment for customers and colleagues is of the utmost importance.

“We are in the process of reviewing the entry and exit routes at our Cardross store and will be working with Argyll and Bute Council to ensure the most appropriate measures are taken.”

A council spokesman added: “The application for a new Co-op store in Cardross met all necessary road and traffic requirements and was approved in 2016.

“A one-way system is in place in the car park and is a condition of planning permission. Bollards are in place at the entrance which are to be used when the store is closed to discourage people from using it.

“Having an entrance on the main road represents no change from the site’s previous use as a hotel/bar and is necessary to allow deliveries to the store, similar to the former use.

“Any concerns expressed to the Council over the site will be raised with the operators.

“We would ask users of the car park to drive and park responsibly to ensure a safe environment for everyone. If there is an issue with misuse of the car park, this is for the operators to resolve.”

The store, located within the former Muirholm Hotel, opened its doors on October 26, creating 12 jobs in the local area.