A mosque in East London is calling on the council to implement steel bollards or barriers directly outside the building after a car crashed into the front of it earlier this week.
The crash on Barking Road in Plaistow, outside the Masjid Ibrahim and Islamic Centre, saw a car hit a parked car. This caused it to spin and collide with a building wall and gate, reported police. A man was rushed to hospital for treatment before being discharged and was arrested on suspicion of driving offences.
Zulfiqar Ahmed, a volunteer who was inside the centre at the time of the crash, says it’s the fourth time a car crash has happened within the vicinity of the building since 2010, twice causing serious damage to the mosque building.
Monday’s crash caused some of the sliding gates outside the mosque to fall off and a wall has been damaged. Mr Ahmed, along with the mosque, believes steel bollards will help to prevent future crashes and before ‘something fatal happens’.
“To avoid a fatal accident, we need to push much harder with the local authority. They need to install safety barriers or steel bollards in front of the mosque, which is located on a bend,” he said. “Late at night or early in the morning people drive very fast and they lose control at the bend, either they’re intoxicated or drive recklessly. Our concern is we need to push the council a bit more to put something there before something really fatal happens.”
As well as being a mosque for Plaistow’s Muslim community, Masjid Ibrahim also serves as an important community centre that has a food bank and caters for young people with various activities.
“We bring the community together with our food bank, we also ran funeral services during Covid, as it was a very busy centre. It’s a very vibrant community centre, we just don’t want anything serious to happen outside of the front,” Mr Ahmed said. “Despite the bad elements that are happening, there have been really good people who are showing solidarity. I’d rather have bollards or steel barriers outside the mosque, that’s something we’ve been pushing – at least it will take (away) some kind of impact.”
A spokesperson for Newham Council said: “In response to residents’ concerns, Newham Council is rolling out a 20mph speed limit across the borough as part of broader measures like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and Healthy School Streets. These initiatives aim to improve safety and encourage walking and cycling by reducing speeds on our roads.”
They said the 20mph scheme will be rolled out to the affected part on Barking Road and the area around the mosque in September 2024.
The spokesperson added that the Met Police was currently investigating the recent collision, and that the council’s Road Safety Team would continue to work closely with the police to raise any concerns highlighted by residents for them to investigate.
Residents have been encouraged to report cases of dangerous driving behaviour directly to the police, in an emergency using 999, and/or if non urgent to their local safer neighbourhood team for enforcement.
