{"id":4898,"date":"2026-04-03T04:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T04:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/4898\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T04:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T04:30:13","slug":"major-friar-gate-update-issued-after-leader-vowed-to-stop-all-traffic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/4898\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Friar Gate update issued after leader vowed to stop all traffic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three people remain in hospital after a car collided into pedestrians<\/p>\n

16:24, 01 Apr 2026Updated 16:42, 01 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Traffic will be slowed at Friar Gate this Easter weekend in wake of last week’s serious incident(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

Traffic will be \u201cslowed\u201d in Derby\u2019s Friar Gate this Easter weekend<\/a> \u2013 that\u2019s despite the council leader previously vowing to stop it altogether in the wake of last weekend\u2019s incident which injured seven people.<\/p>\n

Three people remain in hospital following the incident<\/a> which happened at about 9.30pm on Saturday, March 28.<\/p>\n

A total of seven people were injured<\/a> \u2013 some seriously \u2013 after a Suzuki Swift collided with pedestrians in Friar Gate.<\/p>\n

Sandhu Ponnachan, of Chariot Close, Alvaston, was charged with six counts of Section 18 GBH with intent, one count of attempted Section 18 GBH with intent, one count of dangerous driving, and one count of possession of a bladed article in connection with the incident.<\/p>\n

Ponnachan appeared in court<\/a> on Wednesday (April 1) at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates\u2019 Court and is due to appear at Derby Crown Court later this month.<\/p>\n

Following the serious incident, questions have been raised about providing extra security measures to reassure city centre visitors ahead of the coming Easter weekend.<\/p>\n

During a BBC Radio Derby interview on March 31, Derby City Council leader, Councillor Nadine Peatfield said: \u201cWe will stop vehicles one way or another from travelling along Friar Gate over the Bank Holiday weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, in a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon it was confirmed traffic on Friar Gate would be \u201cslowed\u201d over the weekend \u2013 but not stopped.<\/p>\n

Cllr Peatfield said traffic calming measures<\/a> will be in place as well as an increased high visibility police presence across the city centre.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Derby City Council leader Nadine Peatfield (Labour)(Image: Derbyshire Live)<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cIn the aftermath of this distressing incident, the landscape is constantly shifting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have taken the time to consult extensively with local businesses, our Purple Flag partners, transport providers and the emergency services. After carefully considering this feedback, we have decided to take measures to slow the traffic on Friar Gate but not to stop it.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraffic calming measures will be in place along with an increased high visibility Police presence across the city centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recent incident was an isolated occurrence, and we remain fully committed to ensuring our residents and visitors feel safe and welcome in a city centre that is very much open for business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this week Cllr Peatfield said the authority was constantly reviewing<\/a> city centre safety and was considering \u201cthe implications\u201d of last Saturday\u2019s incident.<\/p>\n

She praised Derby people for \u201cstepping up\u201d and said business owners, staff and residents \u201cacted heroically to support our emergency services in the immediate aftermath of the incident\u201d.<\/p>\n

She called for a \u201cunited front\u201d in the city and for residents to support the council and police in caring for those \u201cwho live, work and study in our city\u201d.<\/p>\n

The move to only slow traffic down comes after Conservative councillor Steve Hassall wrote to council and police chiefs calling for a city centre safety review in the wake of the incident.<\/p>\n

Cllr Hassall said a review should consider \u201chostile vehicle mitigation measures such as bollards and reinforced street furniture in high footfall areas\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also said \u201ctimed or permanent restrictions\u201d on vehicle access in pedestrian-heavy streets could be explored.<\/p>\n

We send out the biggest stories in an email every day. Sign up for the main Derbyshire Live newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three people remain in hospital after a car collided into pedestrians 16:24, 01 Apr 2026Updated 16:42, 01 Apr…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2094,2824,146,1399,468,608,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-4898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-alvaston","9":"tag-bank-holiday","10":"tag-bbc","11":"tag-derby-city-council","12":"tag-easter","13":"tag-traffic-and-travel","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116338899188252537","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}