Mum survives freak crash
‘I am never going to see my children again’ - that was the thought that struck a terrified mum as a wooden telephone pole careered through the air towards her car.
Yvonne Battie, who had been driving home along Rusper Road in Ifield, after visiting her sister Maria, experienced a freak accident, when wiring, which had become detached from the pole, got wedged in her car wheel.
Unaware, Yvonne continued driving until her car violently reared to the left because part of the wire was still attached to the pole.
The force of the car caused the pole to snap in half and as Yvonne rolled her car to a halt, she said she experienced a ‘Final Destination’ moment as she saw the timber pole break and then hurtle towards her.
It crashed into her car, smashing her windscreen, and denting her bonnet, but miraculously Yvonne survived.
Yvonne,53, said: “I had slowed down at the mini round about, just before I started to speed up I heard a noise like a whip cracking but thought nothing of it.
“I thought my steering had gone and the next thing I see is a telegraph pole coming through the air at me!
“As my car was moving it was being pulled towards the telephone pole to which the wire was still attached at the other end. I am not clear on this but this may have caused the pole to snap and then fall onto my car and apparently witnesses state that if it was just 6 inches longer it would have gone through the windscreen.
“I never realised what was really happening until it was over! When I saw the pole coming at me though I did think ‘I am never going to see my children again’.
“I was just relieved to be alive as I realised what could have happened.”
Yvonne was taken to East Surrey Hospital and diagnosed with severe whiplash, wrist pain from where the steering wheel was wrenched from her hands, and bruising.
She added: “I went home and burst into tears when I saw my children.
“It is lovely that I am here and saw Christmas but also mucked it up as I have not been able to go out and buy the rest of my Christmas shopping.
“I do think its a miracle that the car stopped when it did.
“The lady whose house I had crashed outside was wonderful and the builder that had been working next door, and the two police officers.”
A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: “Police were called at 11.13am on December 16.
“It appears that the wiring from the pole had become tangled in the wheel of a female motorist’s Renault Clio, causing it to come down on top of her car. Fortunately, she suffered only minor injuries but was taken to hospital as a precaution.
“The road remained open and the cable and pole were cleared shortly after the incident.”
A spokesman for British Telecom (BT) said: “We were contacted by the police to attend the scene and make the pole safe, following an accident, whilst the police were onsite. We returned on December 24 to replace the pole and put up new cabling.
“There were no reports of any damage in this area prior to the report by the police on December 16.”
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Tuesday 18 June 2013
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