TWO schoolgirls narrowly avoided being killed at the same spot a pensioner was struck by a lorry just four months ago, community councillors heard this week.

Eighty-four-year-old Marion Fair, from Selkirk, died after being trapped beneath the vehicle in the town’s Market Place in December last year.

And, at this month’s meeting of Selkirk Community Council, members heard tragedy almost struck again.

Community councillor Kathleen Beaton said: “There was nearly another accident there - two girls, who must have been from the High School, were crossing the road and he didn’t see the girls because he was so high up (in his cab).

“My husband pointed to the lorry driver that there was someone down there and he put his brakes on. Those girls could have been run over, the size of the lorries that come round that corner.” The community council’s planning spokesman, Ian King, claimed heavy goods vehicles passing through Selkirk, which has been described as having “the greatest bottleneck on the A7”, would continue to pose a problem until a new bypass is built.

But Councillor Michelle Ballantyne, who represents the town on Scottish Borders Council, said anyone who attempted to cross on a blind bend was “just plain stupid”.

She added: “Pedestrians have to make sure they are crossing in a safe place.” Earlier in their meeting in the Victoria Hall on Monday night, the community council were told illegally parked cars in Selkirk town centre were continuing to stop traffic on the main road between Edinburgh and Carlisle.

And Councillor Gordon Edgar, the local authority’s Executive Member for Roads and Infrastucture, urged everyone to report their concerns to the police.

“If one or two people phone the police nothing will happen,” he said. “But if 100 or 200 people phone them I can assure you they will look at it.” Councillor Edgar added that new plans were being drawn up to improve the A7 and that a Selkirk bypass, as well as improvements to the bends at Glenmayne, near Galashiels, were back on the agenda after local communities were invited to put forward their proposals.

He said: “The A7 action plan is being redrawn and we are going ahead with major plans.”