Gough falls asleep, ends up in ditch
Christchurch property developer Antony Gough fell asleep behind the wheel of his BMW, sending it tumbling down a bank before smashing into trees and plunging into a creek.
The white SUV rolled off the road near a bend on the Christchurch-Akaroa Highway shortly after 3.30pm on Tuesday.
Gough said yesterday that he had been driving back from Akaroa on Anzac Day when he ‘‘dozed off’’ behind the wheel.
‘‘The car nose-dived into a paddock. I don’t know how many times we somersaulted but it felt like we were in a washing machine, it just rolled and rolled.
‘‘We’re just lucky we were in such a strong car or it could have been a lot worse,’’ he said.
The mangled car was eventually trapped in a gap between two trees on the edge of the creek, metres from the road.
It teetered upside down with the windscreen shattered and the bonnet smashed. The driver and both passengers, including his partner Vicki Holland and another man, scrambled out before water started seeping in and destroyed what was left of the vehicle.
Kelly-Lee Clark spotted the wreckage from the road. She said she had never seen a crash like it.
Two men had pulled over to help hoist the car’s occupants out of the only accessible side of the vehicle and, without their help, Clark feared the crash could have had much more serious consequences.
‘‘I honestly thought no-one would have survived, [it] was pretty intense.’’
A police spokeswoman said the car crashed off the road about 10 kilometres south of Tai Tapu.
A St John spokesman said everyone was out of the vehicle when paramedics arrived. All three occupants were taken to Christchurch Hospital, one with moderate injuries and two with minor.
Gough was discharged from hospital late on Tuesday, but rose early the following day to attend a board meeting as ‘‘things must go on’’. He woke up stiff and sore with plenty of bruises plastered over his body, but everyone was recovering well after the ‘‘shake up’’, he said.
The car was an ‘‘absolute writeoff’’.
In a Facebook post, Gough said he feared for his life during the crash. ‘‘Water started to come in [to the car] and then it started to fill with smoke. I was worried we would either drown or be caught in a fire. The car felt like it was going to roll onto its roof. Very scary.’’
The Christchurch rich-lister is renowned for his flamboyant dress sense, including lime green, lemon yellow and magenta suits, and his property portfolio includes The Terrace development. The businessman and property developer part-owned Shand’s Emporium in Hereford St before selling it for $1, and moving it to Manchester St to make way for The Terrace project.