Clifftop boulders to stop car horror

Phil Webb, aged 42, pleaded for action after his home twice escaped being damaged when hooligans pushed cars from the top of Maltby Crags, sending them tumbling 100 feet.

Within hours Rotherham Council stepped in and used massive boulders to try to block off the cliff.

A Streetpride department team lifted the half-tonne boulders into place yesterday along a 30-yard stretch of the Crags, off the A634 Blyth Road in Maltby.

They hope the boulders will form a continuous barrier to prevent cars being pushed over the cliff onto properties in the tiny hamlet of Wood Lea.

In the latest incident a burning van was pushed over the cliff, narrowly missing Mr Webb’s cottage below. His children Georgia, 13, and Louis, 10, were playing in the garden at the time.

The boulders will join others already in place in the area to form a continuous barrier across the top of the Crags, a favourite place to dump stolen cars.

Nicola Cheetham, the council’s senior enforcement officer, said she hoped the boulders would play a major role in preventing similar incidents occurring again.

“We hope this action will stop such dangerous behaviour in the future and give local residents living below the Crags some peace of mind,” she said.

Mr Webb said: “It is terrifying to think what could happen and they have been so close coming over the top and onto our home. My kids had a lucky escape.”