Residents of a beleaguered Mill Hill country road, which has recently reopened after costly safety improvements, have raised alarm at a second car crash in two weeks.

Police were called to Partingdale Lane at about 9.30pm on December 8, when a car came off the road after hitting a hole in the road at the junction with Frith Lane.

All three passengers were taken to hospital, two with suspected whiplash. No other vehicle was involved.

Partingdale Lane underwent £250,000 of safety improvements after being closed to through traffic for more than ten years. It was reopened in September this year, but two accidents have taken place since then.

The first occurred in the early hours of November 25, and a smashed car was found abandoned on the road. Residents of Partingdale Lane were outraged when Barnet Councillor Brian Coleman, who represents Totteridge, alleged that they had faked the accident to have the road closed for good and "keep property prices up".

Now the second crash has fuelled their fury and concern.

One resident, 52-year-old John Parr, said: "It's just another accident in the lane which we always predicted. Now the problem is coming home to roost.

"Partingdale Lane is a small country lane within an urban environment. It's on a bend, on a hill, and vision is limited. We feel that people drive too fast down the lane. It's cause for concern that somebody may get hurt.

"It's a political issue that's causing grave concern now accidents are happening far more frequently on a newly constructed highway."

Councillor Wayne Casey, Liberal Democrat councillor for Mill Hill, said: "I didn't need any proof that it was a dangerous road. This has merely reconfirmed the fact. That road was never meant for the motor car.

"Partingdale Lane is an abject lesson in how local government ought not to work. Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been spent on ineffective traffic-calming measures at huge cost to the taxpayer. It's so completely wrong.

"I feel very sorry for the residents and I'm worried. There are young families who live there, and there's a dangerous road outside their front door."

He added that a new Act of Parliament, the Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007, due to come into force in April 2008, could see the council liable for any future accidents in the lane.

"If anybody is seriously injured in Partingdale Lane, and it's directly attributable to the authority's opening of that road, I am going to make sure the idiots responsible are sued," he said.