Lucky escape in bus stop crash
ABUS passenger had a very lucky escape when a car left the road and struck a shelter when the driver was taken ill at the wheel.
Police and paramedics attended Burnley Road in Rawtenstall at 12.25pm on Thursday, March 29 after reports of the ‘terrifying’ collision.
Police said one person was stood in the shelter at the time of the collision, but was thankfully uninjured.
They added that the male driver ‘felt unwell at the wheel’ prior to clip- ping at least one parked car and leaving the road.
Police said the driver had already been spoken to after a similar incident earlier in the day but had then got behind the wheel again prior to the accident.
A spokesman for Ros- sendale police said: “We attended the scene of an road traffic accident today where the vehicle had crashed into a bus stop.
“Luckily the sole occupant of the bus stop was not injured.
“The driver was not injured but had suffered a medical episode at the wheel.”
Police said the collision involved a white Vauxhall Corsa at the Burnley bound side of the road close to Lee Mill.
Helen Atkinson, 57, of nearby Newchurch Road, said she had been passing the area shortly after the accident.
She said: “It would have been terrifying for anyone at the bus stop.
“The car was fully off the road and had damaged the side of the shelter.
“There was debris and glass in the road and on the pavement.
“It looked like an older man in the car who was being attended to.
“It’s very lucky nobody was hurt.”
John Ashworth, 42, of Crawshawbooth, said: “At school going home time you see a lot of children from Alder Grange school at that stop so thank goodness this happened at a quiet time of the day.
“Nobody expects a car to leave the road like that but it sounds like an accident.”