VILLAGERS are petitioning to get the speed limit reduced after a six-year-old girl’s cat was hit by a suspected speeding car.

The B4214 through Munderfield, a small village near Bromyard, is currently a 40mph zone, but pet owners want it reduced to 30mph because cats and dogs have been hit by cars.

Mel McCluskey, who saw her dog being struck by a car, has launched a petition, backed by the ward councillor, as she tries to get at least 70 per cent of the village on board with her wish of getting the speed limit reduced.

Naomi Boulcott supports Mrs McCluskey’s petition because her six-year-old daughter Nancy lost her cat after it was hit by car on March 24.

Hereford Times: Six-year-old, Nancy Boulcott wrote a handwritten letter to local MP Bill Wiggin about road safety after her cat was hit by a speeding car. Picture: Rob Davies Six-year-old, Nancy Boulcott wrote a handwritten letter to local MP Bill Wiggin about road safety after her cat was hit by a speeding car. Picture: Rob Davies

Nancy was so upset by the death that she wrote a letter to MP for North Herefordshire Bill Wiggin, asking him if the speed limit could be reduced to make the road safer for her and her family.

Hereford Times: Nancy Boulcott's cat Pan was killed by a car in Munderfield, near Bromyard Nancy Boulcott's cat Pan was killed by a car in Munderfield, near Bromyard

Mrs McCluskey has already visited half of the homes in the village, between Bromyard and Bishop’s Frome, and aims to collect more signatures this weekend (April 17 and 18).

She feels strongly about the issue after her dog was killed instantly by a driver who failed to stop, and she thinks the car must have be travelling at least 60mph.

“I couldn’t identify his numberplate because I was in shock,” Mrs McCluskey, 35, said.

“I was holding my dead dog in the road and I was screaming. At that moment in time I wasn’t in the place to be able to recall. I knew the car was black, but that’s all I knew.

“If that driver was doing 40mph when my dog ran out he would have been further down the road. He would have been further back, slowed down or swerved.”

Hereford Times: There are calls to lower the speed limit through Munderfield to 30mph There are calls to lower the speed limit through Munderfield to 30mph

Mrs McCluskey, who runs her own pet business, has been told by Avenbury Parish Council that if 70 per cent of villagers sign the petition, it will look into reducing the speed limit.

She also has the backing of the her ward councillor for Bishops Frome and Cradley, Green Party councillor Ellie Chowns.

Coun Chowns said she has tried persuaded parish councils in her ward to install speed indicator devices, but would welcome a speed limit reduction.

“I think reducing the speed limit to 30mph would be a really sensible thing because all the houses come straight onto the road, and there’s more houses being built,” she said.

“It is quite a fast road.”