Crash: Runaway caravan causes mayhem near Arbroath.

Family survive crash after caravan breaks loose from its towing vehicle on busy road

An Angus dad and his two daughters were lucky to escape serious injury in a dramatic road accident on the outskirts of Arbroath.

Their Land Rover Freelander ploughed through the front of an out-ofcontrol caravan which became unhooked from its towing vehicle on the A933 Arbroath to Brechin road near the 45 Commando Royal Marines base at Condor at lunchtime yesterday.

As Neil Cook struggled to bring the 4x4 under control he was then involved in an unavoidable collision with a high performance BMW M4.

Amazingly all the occupants of the vehicles escaped with only minor injuries from the scene of destruction which left the road closed.

Mr Cook and teenage daughters Lynsey, 15, and Ainslee, 13, were travelling towards Arbroath when the 54-year-old lorry driver was faced with the sight of the caravan coming towards him after it broke free from a Ford Kuga heading in the opposite direction.

Paramedics rushed to the scene of the accident, which happened around 11.30am.

The female driver of the Ford was uninjured and Mr Cook escaped with cuts to his head and hands. The occupants of the BMW also escaped serious injury.

Speaking at the scene, a shocked Mr Cook said: “I saw the caravan heading away from the car and towards me and tried to get as far into my side of the road as I could, but it all happened so quickly.

“It just swung round and we basically went through the front of it.”

The front of the caravan was obliterated as the Land Rover smashed through it, coming to rest on its side across the southbound side of the road, its drawbar snagged in the security fencing of the military base.

Mr Cook added: “It still travelled on after hitting me, and then I was braking hard to try to get my car to stop.”

The Freelander then struck the offside of the grey BMW, which had been travelling north behind the car and caravan.

Both cars suffered extensive damage and may have to be written off.

Lynsey had been sitting in the front passenger seat of the Freelander and a piece of wood from the frame of the caravan speared through the windscreen and went in-between the front seats.

The road remained closed while the vehicles were recovered and the extensive debris was cleared from the scene, with investigations also being carried out into how the caravan came loose from its tow vehicle.

Mr Cook added: “We’re lucky we were in this car, I don’t know what would have happened if it had been another vehicle.”

Isawthe caravan heading away from the car and towards me and tried to get as far into my side of the road as I could, but it all happened so quickly. NEIL COOK

The vehicles involved in the dramatic accident on the Arbroath to Brechin road.