WHEN driver Lee Capaldi found himself lost in the centre of Manchester, he decided to follow a bus to get him back on course.

But Mr Capaldi paid a heavy price for his initiative when a retractable bollard ripped off the front of his silver Peugeot.

The 3ft-high telescopic bollards, located outside Marks & Spencer on Market Street, were installed in January after it emerged the road was one of the worst accident hotspots in the city. They use sensors to sink into the street when a bus drives past before rising to bar other traffic.

But eyewitnesses claim the bollards have caused a series of increasingly dangerous prangs. Two cars have been wrecked in the last six months alone.

Mr Capaldi, from Stockport, says passenger Nikki Connell suffered severe bruising in the incident, which also triggered the car's airbags and flattened the front-left tyre.

'Airbags'

He said: "It's ridiculous. Once you are in, you are stuck. I went through after the bus and they shot up so fast all the airbags went off. I didn't see them and I didn't have a chance."

In March a bollard tore through the bumper of one car causing it to crash after the driver claimed poor weather conditions had hampered his vision.

But council officers accused many drivers of deliberately ignoring the ban.

A spokeswoman said: "We have done everything we can to make it clear to motorists that there is a closure in place.

"Their actions are illegal and extremely dangerous and a number of drivers have been prosecuted by the police."

WHAT do you think of the bollards? Have your say.