A woman who lives on the corner of a narrow junction has won her fight to have bollards put outside her house.

Rita O’Sullivan, 47, lives in Elm Terrace, High Elms, Woodford Green, which sits on the corner of the junction with Elm Grove and The Square on the border of Redbridge and Waltham Forest.

Part of a wall outside her house was demolished by a lorry trying to negotiate the tight turn and she says pedestrians were being endangered by vehicles mounting the pavement to round the bend.

In January this year, she and her neighbours enlisted the support of their MP Iain Duncan Smith in their fight to get bollards, a width restriction and a one way system introduced to combat the problem.

Last week Redbridge Council put three bollards up on the corner.

Mrs O’Sullivan said: “I have to thank them really. It’s made a real difference.

“I have had parents walk by and thank me for kicking up a fuss about it. They say they feel safer walking their kids on that pavement now.”

Mrs O’Sullivan wants more action taken to stop accidents.

She said: “The bricklayers putting my new pillar up told me they had seen a lorry and a car give the bollards a good old whack as they turned the corner.

“The bell-shaped one on the corner has been hit a good three or four times.

“We do still need a width restriction here. The other day a lorry came up Elm Grove and stopped for three minutes after realising it couldn’t make the turn.

“It then reversed all the way back down the road. There were cars beeping their horns, because there’s no way the driver could have seen them properly.

“We even get lorries driving onto the green across the road and turning from there.”

In 2007 Redbridge Council was due to begin work on a one way system, but residents in Elm Grove, which falls under the jurisdiction of Waltham Forest, opposed the scheme and it never happened.

Mrs O’Sullivan said: “Hopefully the two authorities can sort something out because while the bollards are a good start we still need something to stop such big vehicles trying to get round here.

“A width restriction would be ideal.”

Meanwhile, Mr Duncan Smith said Mrs O’Sullivan’s success in securing the bollards should provide an example for other people.

He said: “This is a very good example of the local Council working closely with residents and listening to what they want and it should encourage more residents in Woodford to raise issues they might have with their roads.”

Redbridge Council has been asked to comment.