A MOTORCYCLIST had a lucky escape when she slipped on oil and fell from her bike into the path of a lorry on a Newport street.

Georgina - known as Georgie - Berry feared she would be run over as she struggled in vain to pick up her machine on the city’s Rodney Road, at around 8.45am last Thursday.

She has said that she believes the state of the road may have contributed to her accident.

“Luckily, he (the lorry driver) stopped, I don’t know how, and I just remember scuffling out of the way,” said 24-year-old Miss Berry, who lives in one of the new developments off the street, opposite Rodney Parade.

“There were inches to spare.

“It wasn’t the driver’s fault though, because the street is an absolute mess and has been for ages.

“I’ve been reporting this for two years, since moving down there.

“There are holes, loose stones, patches of oil. This one was fresh and I just lost my footing.

“With the building work, the road is narrow in places. The lorry had mounted the kerb to let cars past, and I’d pulled in to let him through.”

Miss Berry, who works in the planning department at the Argus, had bruises to her arm and motorcycling helmet was cracked, and her bike scratched in the incident.

She has been concerned about the road for some time, and requested that Newport city council do something about it last September.

But following a risk assessment, she was informed that the defect she reported was not deemed severe enough at the time for repair.

“They need to do something now though, because it’s getting worse, and what happened to me showed that,” said Miss Berry, who has also complained to developers Taylor Wimpey, who are building homes along Rodney Road.

“The building work has been going on down here for years and people are getting sick of the disruption.

“It is cleaned up sometimes, but mostly the road is in a mess.”

Miss Berry is particularly keen too, to trace a woman who was driving a white car behind her, when the incident happened.

A Taylor Wimpey spokesperson said the company is aware of the incident and the site manager discussed the matter with Miss Berry at the time.

“We have put robust provisions in place for our contractors to ensure they are not blocking Rodney Road, and have arranged for all parking associated with our development to be off road,” they said.

“ However, we do take daily deliveries into site and we’d like to apologise for any issues Ms Berry has experienced.

“We are in constant dialogue with the local authority regarding our activities along Rodney Road.

“We have not received any reports of builders failing to adhere to our site rules, however, if we do then we will look into this.”

A Newport City Council spokesperson said the council is "working with developers to keep the area safe around the Rodney Road area following a complaint about road surfaces."

"Although Rodney Road is adopted highway, it is also being used for the development traffic and the contractor has a duty to prevent any damage to the roads or spillages as part of their operations and in line with planning restrictions.

"The council has raised issues with the developer and we are monitoring the site which is regularly inspected for defects."