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Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls down!
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Author:  captain cab [ Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:31 am ]
Post subject:  Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls down!
Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls down!



A taxi driver who crashed into Cheddar’s ancient market cross says he is devastated by what has happened.

Mati Levy, of Rodney Stoke, has been a taxi driver in the Cheddar Valley for five years without a blemish to his name. He said at 4.10am on Saturday, March 31, he was driving back from Bristol Airport when he violently sneezed as he approached the centre of Cheddar at around 25mph.

The convulsion made him lose control of his VW Transporter and he had a coming together with the Grade II listed monument.

The delicate building partly collapsed onto the taxi – but the vehicle’s air bags did not deploy due to the comparatively low speed it struck.

“I was devastated,” said Mr Levy. “When I got home I sobbed. It would be the last building I would want to damage.

“All I can say is sorry to the people of Cheddar and the area. And extend my apologies to the motorists and everyone who will be caught up in the traffic jams as a result.”

Mr Levy was breathalised by police at the scene but the constabulary said there were no charges to answer. Somerset Highways immediately took charge of the scene following the crash making the structure safe and setting up three way traffic lights.

They said: “The work was carried out in partnership and consultation with Cheddar Parish Council who own the Cross which is a scheduled monument.

“Any further work to repair the cross will be the responsibility of the parish council but the county council’s engineers and heritage officers will be on hand to assist in any way they can.

“The temporary traffic lights will have to remain in place to keep traffic safely away from the damaged structure until repairs can be carried out. This will take some time owing to the severity of the damage and complexity of the repairs needed.”

The leader of the parish council, Lyn Goodfellow, who was one of the first on the scene and said it was tragic. She said: “The market cross is an iconic building. It must be repaired and protected as it is so precious.”

Also on hand was parish councillor Andy Bosley who is responsible for highways issues in the village. He was adamant the stones should not leave the community as he was concerned they could be damaged.

Mr Bosley said he hoped a stonemason could be contracted soon and a safety compound set up to protect the building while the work was carried out as had happened before. In 1999 the cross was damaged by vandals while a year later it was hit by a car causing considerable damage and a lengthy dispute over insurance.

The Grade II listed building is beloved of teenagers as a hang-out spot in the village and was originally designed as an shop or market for market gardeners and for dairy produce.

Its core dates from the 15th century although it has an octagonal shelter that was added later and replaced in 1834.

Mr Levy has admitted responsibility and has contacted his insurance company who will deal with the accident as a straight forward claim. He said he is taking two weeks off work as he was in a state of shock. Nobody was hurt in the accident and no other vehicles were involved.

Anne Fieldhouse of Arundel House that overlooks the cross was woken from her bed at 4.10am. She said: “One guest heard a screech and then a rumble. I felt it through my body. I leapt up and ran outside. Someone was shouting from the flat above the hairdresser. The driver seemed dazed and shocked. I didn’t call an ambulance but I called the police and the council.”

Mr Levy, 42, is married and has a family and is well known in the valley as a taxi driver. He originally came to England from Israel and worked as a chauffeur in London before moving to the area in 2007.

“All my career I have never had an accident,” he said. “It’s unreal. The last thing I would want to damage is a 500-year-old market cross. We moved to the valley because of its beauty and history. I am so sorry for what has happened.”

source: http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/
Author:  captain cab [ Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
Quote:
He said at 4.10am on Saturday, March 31, he was driving back from Bristol Airport when he violently sneezed as he approached the centre of Cheddar at around 25mph.


Image
Author:  bloodnock [ Thu Apr 05, 2012 10:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
captain cab wrote:
Quote:
He said at 4.10am on Saturday, March 31, he was driving back from Bristol Airport when he violently sneezed as he approached the centre of Cheddar at around 25mph.


Image



You old Cynic...
Author:  edders23 [ Thu Apr 05, 2012 6:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
I must admit I must have sneezed hundreds of times whilst driving over the years I've been doing this job not lost control of the car yet although I suppose anything can happen
Author:  edders23 [ Fri Apr 06, 2012 12:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
today i was approaching Ketton level crossing when i sneezed twice quite violently and the car carried on in a straght line and didn't demolish the barriers :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
Author:  captain cab [ Fri Apr 06, 2012 2:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
edders23 wrote:
today i was approaching Ketton level crossing when i sneezed twice quite violently and the car carried on in a straght line and didn't demolish the barriers :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:



professional driver =D>

CC
Author:  Nidge2 [ Fri Apr 06, 2012 9:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
edders23 wrote:
today i was approaching Ketton level crossing when i sneezed twice quite violently and the car carried on in a straght line and didn't demolish the barriers :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:



Good job it wasn't Tallington.
Author:  edders23 [ Sat Apr 07, 2012 6:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
Good job it wasn't Tallington.


NEVER mention that name it is cursed !!!! If you say the unmentionable name you are doomed to get stuck at that crossing last time i mentioned it I got stuck for 35 minutes never said it since and get through with the barriers up approx 30% of the time !

PS If you ever pick anyone up from network rail apparently they hate that place so much they have photos of it stuck to a dartboard !!! allegedly
Author:  Dusty Bin [ Sat Apr 07, 2012 8:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
Quote:
He said at 4.10am on Saturday, March 31, he was driving back from Bristol Airport when he violently sneezed as he approached the centre of Cheddar at around 25mph.

The convulsion made him lose control of his VW Transporter and he had a coming together with the Grade II listed monument.


So his council will be reviewing his 'fit and proper' status on medical grounds then? If the "coming together" had happened at 4pm rather than 4am the outcome could have been a whole lot different. Indeed could have been a whole lot different at 4am in different circumstances.

Quote:
He said he is taking two weeks off work as he was in a state of shock


Good to know that he'll come out of his state of shock in precisely a fortnight's time :lol:
Author:  captain cab [ Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
Sneezing taxi driver's monument collision leads to traffic trouble and TV mocking



Piecing together Cheddar Market Cross will be like a giant jigsaw puzzle during its repair schedule.

A pair of the Grade II monument’s supporting columns were obliterated during a collision three weeks ago.

Hoardings will go up over several weeks while it is mended with repairs being grant aided by English Heritage.

It is too early for a price tag to be hung on how much repairs will be. Works will begin within the next few weeks.

Rodney Stoke taxi driver Mati Levy collided with the landmark when he sneezed while driving on Saturday, March 31.

What was already a tricky junction to negotiate has seen traffic become more strangled.

The temporary traffic lights protecting the stone island have resulted in huge tailbacks developing through the village in both directions.

Peak periods like the school run have particularly suffered.

Cheddar Market Cross is a scheduled monument thought to be of 15th century origin. The cross has been made safe by Somerset County Council but a sustained programme of full repair is now necessary.

The repairs will see the piecing together of the loose stone and strengthening works to the structure. The stonework that had been knocked loose in the collision has been removed to safe storage after recording on site.

Cheddar Parish Council, with English Heritage, are in the process of appointing a conservation architect. After that the work will be planned and builders appointed. Work will be done quickly as possible to ease off the traffic burdens.

On top of that, thought is being given on how to prevent a repeat of the incident.

Cheddar was the butt of a joke on the missing word round on Friday’s Have I Got News For You.

“Cabbie sneezes and ...” was the headline clue towards the end of the show. The missing words were “wrecks monument”.

Guest host Stephen Mangan quipped: “The monument in Cheddar is currently cordoned off, leaving heartbroken residents with nothing to p*** against when on their way home from the pub.”

See our Yesteryear section on page 10 for more on the history of the cross’s mishaps.

What do you think could be done to better protect Cheddar Market Cross? If it was an option, should the cross be moved and if so where? Write to The Editor, Cheddar Valley Gazette, Southover, Wells, BA5 1UH or email editor@midsomnews.co.uk.

http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Sneezin ... story.html
Author:  Sussex [ Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
captain cab wrote:
Guest host Stephen Mangan quipped: “The monument in Cheddar is currently cordoned off, leaving heartbroken residents with nothing to p*** against when on their way home from the pub.”

:lol: :lol:
Author:  edders23 [ Sat Jun 23, 2012 10:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
Nidge2 wrote:
edders23 wrote:
today i was approaching Ketton level crossing when i sneezed twice quite violently and the car carried on in a straght line and didn't demolish the barriers :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:



Good job it wasn't Tallington.



http://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/b ... -1-3979151

Is there light at the end of the tunnel ?
Author:  Doom [ Sat Jun 23, 2012 11:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
I did a similar thing when I was a kid, I worked for a car dealer and was sent to get a car for a customer viewing, the car I was getting was French and not designed very well (I didn't know this until years later when several other owners of one told me they'd had a similar experience in one) anyway it's wet and I'm coming up for a junction (major rd btw) I put foot on brake and the car veers into the oncoming lane, being only used to RWD at the time and this was an early FWD car I then fight it as you would a RWD and lose my steering as I'm hard down on the brake by this time and end up in a lampost, once recovered back to the garage I have to see the manager who asks what happened, as it was by a golf course I come up with I swerved to avoid a golf ball :wink: o'course he believed every work and I needed a new job the following week, had I tried to tell him just the truth though I would've been out that day, the road was 40mph and if I was over it was by no more than 5 - 10mph max if at all, as I touched the brakes the car veered over, I made it back across the line without hitting the oncoming cars but went into a planted slide pointing at the kerb, the mechanic who serviced it said he had put new pads in it and they could find nothing wrong with the wreckage to back my story up, personally as time has gone on and I now know cars very well I think it was a combo of either a bad chassis design or possibly the tyres fitted to it at the time, or, it had some previous history that the previous owner had not declared, so, if you ever think about buying a classic French sports car named Fuego just beware it might look like a sports car, but it's designed badly, iirc it had the same if not worse trait that the Capri had for being tail happy, but as the Capri was RWD you had a chance to power out of trouble if you knew how too.
Author:  grandad [ Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
Doom wrote:
I think it was a combo of either a bad chassis design or possibly the tyres fitted to it at the time, or, it had some previous history that the previous owner had not declared.

I think it was just bad driving myself. :wink:
Author:  Nidge2 [ Tue Jun 26, 2012 5:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Atishoo! Atishoo! Cheddar’s ancient market cross falls d
edders23 wrote:
Nidge2 wrote:
edders23 wrote:
today i was approaching Ketton level crossing when i sneezed twice quite violently and the car carried on in a straght line and didn't demolish the barriers :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:



Good job it wasn't Tallington.



http://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/b ... -1-3979151

Is there light at the end of the tunnel ?



That will cost a fortune, Network Rail won't spend that amount of money on a bridge.
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