A car was trapped in the middle of the A1 at the Beal turn-off for Holy Island, with traffic passing on both sides, in footage shared by a campaign group. The video, captured by a local farmer, shows the vehicle stranded as vehicles stream past.
Busy junction and congestion
The Beal junction is one of the busiest in the north of the county, due to high numbers of visitors heading to Lindisfarne. Congestion is a significant issue, with tailbacks stretching to the island's causeway at peak times.
The video was shared by the Northumberland A1 Safety Alliance (NASA). A spokesman for the group said: "We see this what we see all too often at Beal and it’s going to end very badly very soon if we don’t all drive with a little more patience. Tourists don’t know the road like we do. We have to help them for us all to stay safe."
Campaign for dualling
NASA was established by co-founders Kezz Petronelli-Stone and Richard Shell. The pair said they had "witnessed daily how the dangerous, single-lane stretches of the northern A1 put lives and local commerce at risk".
The Chronicle and Journal are leading a campaign to dual the A1, backed by a coalition of political, business and community leaders, following a number of recent deaths on the road. A petition to dual the A1 has secured more than 3,000 signatures.
Government and local response
Calls to dual the A1 have been made for decades, but the issue has returned to the forefront after a series of fatal accidents this year. The Government scrapped a scheme that would have seen 13 miles of the road dualled between Morpeth and Ellingham in 2024. Officials have said they are working on safety improvements as part of the Road Investment Strategy (RIS), but no schemes have yet come forward.
Coun Guy Renner-Thompson, who represents the nearby Bamburgh ward on Northumberland County Council, said there was an urgent need for junctions to be improved. He said: "This is yet another example of a junction on the A1 that needs consideration. The design work for those junctions between Morpeth and Ellingham was done under the last Government as part of the dualling scheme, so they just need to be brought out of the cupboard.
"The junction to the island is particularly busy because Holy Island gets thousands upon thousands of visitors every year. Many of these people are unfamiliar with the road, visitors don't know it.
"Out of all the junctions, that one suffers from the worst congestion. People get frustrated and they pull out in front of something they shouldn't.
"When Lindisfarne Festival is on, the tailbacks can go from the A1 all the way back to the causeway. I've been sat on the A1 trying to get to Berwick and the congestion is because of this junction.
"Even on normal days, it is extremely congested now. It's surprising there hasn't been more incidents."
