Escape in tree crash (From Witney Gazette)

Escape in tree crash

8:46am Wednesday 22nd November 2006 in Witney By Maddy Biddulph

A DRIVER was just inches from death after his van crashed into a tree and the trunk ended up wedged between him and the passenger seat.

Just a couple more inches to the left and the 61-year-old man might have died in the smash outside Charlbury yesterday afternoon on the B4437.

Helen Robinson, from the South Central Ambulance Service, said: "The driver was lucky to be alive - the tree narrowly missed going straight through him. It went between him and the passenger seat."

The driver of the white Peugeot van was airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford with serious injuries, including abdominal injuries, facial injuries and bruising.

No other vehicle is believed to have been involved in the accident, which happened shortly before 1.30pm.

The accident on the road was the latest crash on the notorious single-carriageway route between Woodstock and Charlbury.

Charlbury Town Council chairman Nick Potter, who lives near the scene of the crash at Lees Rest just off the B4437, said there was an accident about once every four to six weeks.

He said: "Despite a new surface, we are still getting regular accidents. They don't seem related to times of day or types of weather - they just keep happening. It's either cars going off the road or colliding with each other.

"Nine times out of ten, the people either get out or have their vehicles towed away, so I am not sure if the police even know about them."

He urged the county council to look at ways of improving the road - whether through new signs or altering the road alignment.

Following the crash, police closed the road to allow accident investigators to examine the scene and diverted drivers.