A COUNTY councillor has vowed to campaign to improve road safety after a woman escaped tragedy by seconds when a bus crashed through two outhouses.

Jean Hannon had just left one of the outbuildings on Knuzden Brook, between Blackburn and Knuzden, when the Stagecoach bus carrying six passengers went out of control after turning off Stanhill Road onto Haslingden Old Road .

It ploughed through newly erected steel railings and demolished the two outhouses before stopping against a row of houses.

Now residents have started a petition for road improvements and are being backed by county councillor Dorothy Westell.

Residents claim accidents are a regular occurrence on the bend which has an adverse camber that pulls vehicles towards the houses hit by the bus.

Coun Westell hopes her intervention at County Hall will lead to immediate action.

She said: "The Haslingden Old Road in general is a dangerous road and I can full appreciate the residents' concerns. I have spoken about this road before and I will be mentioning it again.

"Obviously, the residents need to feel safe and they don't at the moment. I will help them all I can."

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "We are investigating the accident and our officers will be looking to see if anything can be done to improve the road."

County councillor Richard Toon, chairman of the highways committee, said: "I have sympathy with the residents' concerns and we will investigate to see if we can do anything.

"We will contact the police and the bus operators to see what can be done to make this road safer."

Jean Hannon said: "We need to know something will be done. It is simply dangerous.

"The road is very very unsafe when it is slippery."

The driver of the bus suffered slight injury after he was believed to have lost control of the vehicle.