Heacham man Garry Martin calls for drivers to slow down on Neville Road after losing two cats to cars in two years

A man who lost two beloved pets on the same road is urging drivers to slow down before someone is hurt.

Garry Martin from Heacham said it was “absolutely awful” when he discovered his eight-year-old cat Grimm had been hit by a car on Neville Road last month.

He, like others, believes the village is a hotspot for cat deaths and thinks it is due to motorists not taking enough care and driving too fast down narrow streets.

“We came from London and we had never lost a cat on the road,” he said.

“It’s strange, this is the second cat we’ve lost and it seems odd to me that there are always cats being hit in Heacham.”

Garry’s old cat Floki - who was rescued from a dustbin - was just two years old when it was struck by a van behind his house a few years ago.

When Grimm was hit, Garry had just returned from shopping and had seen her five minutes before a neighbour came and told him that she was lying in the middle of the road.

“It’s the not stopping that gets me,” he said.

“I understand people hit something and they panic and just drive off but I would have thought it’s common decency to move it to the side of the road.”

Garry does not think having multiple speed bumps would be the answer, however, he feels that people need to take more care before something worse happens.

“I only fear that soon it will be a child or an elderly person crossing the road,” he said.

On Facebook, many other village residents have agreed. One added: “I'm disgusted by the way some people drive round our lovely village - far too fast, and certainly breaking the speed limit.

“We definitely need some form of traffic calming, as some people are too ignorant to use any common sense or abide by the law.

“No respect for other people and animals that are out and about, it's the way of the world now unfortunately.”

Others said they have had to resort to using enclosure methods and specialised fencing so their pets do not leave their property.

“My cats have an enclosure in the garden accessed via the conservatory,” another person commented.

“So many cats are run over around here, I don't want it happening to mine.”