A mother campaigning to make the A27 safer after her son was almost killed three years ago was shocked at the response she received when she reported another near miss.

Lesley Hill lives next to the Coach and Horses pub, which is by the westbound carriageway of the A27 at Durrington.

It has been the scene of many accidents, including a horrific crash that claimed three people's lives last Christmas.

She phoned Interoute, a company contracted by the Highways Agency to carry out work on the road, after her son Andrew, 18, was almost hit by a lorry as he tried to turn into the Coach and Horses from the A27 on Wednesday.

She said Andrew, who nearly died on the A27 in 2003, was very shaken by what had happened.

But when she spoke to someone at Interoute, she was told there was nothing they could do about the speed limit and that she had chosen to live there.

She said she was also told that the only way to stop people speeding along the road was to take cars off the road altogether and that if there was a reduction in the speed limit, no one would pay any attention to it.

When she told the person she was speaking to that lorries drove along the road at 70mph, she was told that lorries are not allowed to drive at that speed.

She said: "I am absolutely livid. Last week my son nearly had an accident because somebody pulling out of the pub was blocking the way in.

"My son had to stop in the middle of the A27 and there was traffic coming up behind him.

"It frightened Andrew. He hasn't been driving for that long and he nearly died on the road when he was 14. I don't want that to happen again."

Three years ago Andrew took the full impact when another vehicle crashed into the car he was travelling in as it turned off the A27 and into Ivydore Road in Worthing.

Andrew was rushed to intensive care at Guy's Hospital in London and was lucky to survive.

The Highways Agency is planning to block off the intersection so people will no longer be able to turn right out of the pub and on to the eastbound carriageway.

But Mrs Hill said this would not deal with the issue of speeding on the westbound side.

She said: "We are only concerned about the westbound traffic because there is a speed limit on the other side. It does not matter if they make us turn left or right.

"I am interested in keeping people safe. What an earth are we supposed to do? We live in a society where we have a voice but no one wants to listen.

"All I want to do is save someone else from being killed or seriously injured."

A Highways Agency spokesman said: "We apologise for any upset caused to Mrs Hill. We have discussed her requests concerning the A27 outside the Coach and Horses on a number of occasions.

"We are ready to make the road safer by banning the right turn out of the pub. What we do not want is for this process to be held up while we debate changing the speed limits, which will be looked at separately."