CAMPAIGNERS were told today that no Euro cash will be given towards safety improvements at Felixstowe's deathtrap dock spur junction – until the government back the project.

CAMPAIGNERS were told today that no Euro cash will be given towards safety improvements at Felixstowe's deathtrap dock spur junction – until the government back the project.

Town councillors are now writing urgently to roads minister David Jamieson to ask for his help amid fresh fears that it will not be long before there is another serious lorry crash at the A14 roundabout.

They are also asking MP John Gummer to support their plea to the minister and asking him what he has been doing following meetings he held last year.

Councillors are deeply unhappy with the measures taken so far at the junction – believing signs and lines will not be enough to prevent another fatal accident – and concerned at the delay in doing other work.

Finance and general purposes chairman Chris Slemmings said: "If we go to the minister with support from our MP, the minister has no option to consider it and cannot fob us off as the Highways Agency continues to do."

Mr Gummer had indicated that positive action was imminent and he would have good news soon – but nothing has been heard since.

"He showed a considerable interest in this situation and we had a very useful meeting with him and he went away wagging his tail, taking up the cudgels. I think we should ask him what progress he has made because we haven't heard anything more," said former mayor Malcolm Minns.

In a letter to the council, A14 route manager Roger Chenery said there was "little chance" of European funding for the dock spur as the agency was not promoting an improvements scheme for the junction.

He believed the government would not support work at the present time, even though Felixstowe was part of the Trans-European Transport Network and identified as priority 13 on a list of 20 schemes.

Work was more likely to take place on the A120 at Harwich because of the proposed Bathside Bay development and the A120 is not as good as the A14.

Councillors want a major scheme to separate town and port traffic at the roundabout, where 19 lorries have rolled over or shed their loads in six years.

In the worst, motorist Martin O'Sullivan was killed when an articulated lorry landed on top of his car and crushed it flat.

The agency has spent £30,000 this year on changing road markings and putting up signs, but is trying to avoid structural works. It is also looking at other methods of reducing vehicle speeds such as the vehicle activated signing.

n What do you think – is a major safety scheme needed at the dock spur? Write to Evening Star Letters, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk