Car Fire on the A249 Near Detling's Jade's Crossing

Kent Fire and Rescue Service was called to a car fire on the A249, Maidstone-bound near Jade's Crossing in Detling, at 8.16am this morning. The service's incident log gives no further detail beyond the call-out itself.

Jade's Crossing is the footbridge carrying pedestrians over the A249 at Detling, on the Pilgrims' Way - and it exists because of a tragedy on that same stretch of road. On 16 December 2000, eight-year-old Jade Hobbs was crossing the A249 with her grandmother, Margaret Kuwertz, when they were hit by an oncoming car; both were killed. Jade had been trying to pull her grandmother to safety. Her mother, Caroline, campaigned for a footbridge afterwards - Kent County Council initially installed speed cameras instead, citing cost, before relenting. The Hobbs family raised £75,000 toward construction themselves, and Caroline and her husband Paul officially opened the crossing, which features a silhouette of a ballerina in memory of one of Jade's hobbies, in August 2002. A plaque beside it commemorates Jade and others killed in accidents on the A249. Caroline Hobbs' campaigning won her a Special Award at the 2003 Pride of Britain Awards.

The A249 is a dual carriageway linking the M20 and M2, built as part of the Detling Bypass in the early 1960s; by 2000, an estimated 30,000 vehicles a day were using it. There's no suggestion today's car fire is connected to the road's wider safety record - vehicle fires happen on busy roads everywhere - but it's the reason this particular landmark, rather than just a grid reference, is how Kent Fire and Rescue described the location.

Sources: Kent Fire and Rescue Service, Wikipedia