A COMPUTER engineer claims that only FOUR police officers were on duty on the night of a hit and run smash at an accident blackspot in Brentwood.
Nigel Morgans, 52, spoke out after the crash, in which a bronze Renault Megane and a silver car, thought to be an Audi, hit each other at the notorious bend where Pondfield Lane meets Hanging Hill Lane at around 7.30pm on Tuesday, November 13.
Mr Morgans, who lives in Pondfield Lane, said the silver car failed to stop after the accident, which left the Megane undriveable and blocking the road.
He said no one was injured, but it took the police at least half an hour to attend.
Speaking to the Gazette from the corner, at which there have been at least 16 accidents since January, Mr Morgans said: "When the two police constables arrived they apologised for the delay in attending and said that there were only four people on duty that night.
"I think that is pretty disgusting really, given the size of the population of Brentwood and the number of incidents that take place.
"Because they took a while to turn up, myself and another chap were directing traffic and when you are directing traffic without the right high visibility clothing it is concerning."
A police spokesman said they were called at 7.29pm and that they attended "in half and hour".
"Police officers ensured that the road was cleared and have followed up with enquiries to find the driver of the vehicle which failed to stop," he said.
"Police were not able to attend any faster, as the Force Control Room took the decision at 7.11pm to deploy all available units to search for a man who was in imminent danger of his life in Brentwood.
"An extensive search involving British Transport Police as well as the police helicopter and the council's CCTV camera service and Essex Police officers fortunately found the man alive at just before 8pm and he was taken to hospital."
When asked whether just four police officers were on duty last Tuesday evening, the spokesman replied: "Senior officers have to make difficult decisions about priority deployments of officers to deal with different incidents.
"In this case, the incidents were correctly graded and prioritised."
Anyone who has any information about the accident is asked to call Brentwood police on 101
