FRESH calls were made to dual the last stretch of the A11 after a 26-year-old motorist from Thetford was killed at the weekend.

FRESH calls were made to dual the last stretch of the A11 after a 26-year-old motorist from Thetford was killed at the weekend.

The crash, which occurred at around 3.20am near the war memorial on Sunday , was between a black Land Rover Freelander and a red Nissan Micra and is the latest to occur during an ongoing public inquiry into the dualling of the same stretch of road.

Police, the ambulance service and firefighters attended and the A11 was closed for more than seven hours.

The male driver of the Nissan was pronounced dead at the scene. He has been named as Mehmet Tekagac, 26 from White Hart Street, in Thetford.

The male driver of the Freelander was taken to West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds with minor injuries.

Campaigners fighting for the nine-mile stretch between Thetford and the Fiveways Barton Mills roundabout to be dualled said the latest crash provided fresh evidence for the urgent need of the upgrade. It comes as the road is the subject of an ongoing public inquiry into the plans put forward by the Highways Agency.

West Suffolk MP Richard Spring, one of the leading campaigners, said: “This is one more terrible and tragic reason why it is of the upmost priority that this road gets dualled and this is yet another ghastly statistic in a catalogue of dozens of deaths on that stretch of the road over the years.

“This is an impossible situation and I am so pleased now there is a public inquiry taking place, but this simply underlines the importance of getting this terrible road dualled.”

Evidence put forward by the Highways Agency at the inquiry last week suggests the new road scheme would prevent

78 fatal injuries, 36 serious injuries and more than 1,000 slight injuries over the next 60 years.

Over a three-year period between January 2005 and December 2007, there were eight serious and 86 slight accidents on the single-carriageway section.

The lanes between the junctions with the B1106 and the A1101 were closed off following the latest incident, with traffic being diverted through Brandon. The Highways Agency was involved in clearing the road of fuel spillage.

Firefighters used cutting equipment to free a man from the southbound-travelling Micra but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the other vehicle was taken to West Suffolk Hospital by ambulance to be checked over, but was not thought to have suffered anything more than minor injuries.

A spokeswoman for Suffolk police said it had been a head-on collision and there was a pool of surface water on the carriageway where the crash happened.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact police on 01473 613500.

You can keep up to date with the A11 inquiry by visiting www.tbtimes24.co.uk