Miracle escape from truck crash
Published: December 23, 2005
Three people have had a remarkable escape after an HGV lorry crashed into a house in Cornwall.
The lorry driver was unloading frozen goods from his trailer when it rolled back, trapping him and smashing into the home in Camelford.
The driver was cut free and airlifted to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, with minor back injuries.
The owner and tenant of the house escaped unhurt, but the property has been severely damaged and is unsafe. [In the Arms of Angels: True Stories of Heavenly Guardians]
Owner Valerie Pyle was in bed when the accident happened at 0710 GMT on Friday.
She told BBC News that when she heard the noise, she did not realise it was her property, but assumed it was somewhere nearby.
“My friend then rushed out of the other room and said it was this house,” said Ms Pyle.
“Then I could see daylight outside and hear somebody groaning, so I rang the police and an ambulance then went outside.
“I was worried it was the tenant who was living downstairs because it was his room the lorry went into.”
Ms Pyle said the tenant also had a miraculous escape because he had just got up and gone into another room moments before the crash.
“He was just yards away from where the lorry came through the wall.”
The property, which has recently been refurbished and put up for sale, may have to be demolished and is being examined by structural engineers.
Ms Pyle believes the accident has highlighted the need for a bypass round the north Cornish town.
“We’ve been campaigning for years, but we can’t get one. This is the result, but thankfully nobody is dead this time, but it’s a very worrying situation.”
Vehicle inspectorate
A police investigation is under way into the cause of the accident.
Insp Julie Whitmarsh said: “Our traffic officers are dealing with the incident and we’ve had the vehicle inspectorate out.
“They’ve looked at the vehicle and that investigation will be ongoing over the next hours and days.”
Part of the main road through Camelford, the A39, is expected to be closed all day.
North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson said the accident showed the need for a distributor road to take the A39 around the town, away from its narrow main street.
He said: “The accident is a serious illustration of why a distributor road for Camelford is so desperately needed.
“People in the town are running a daily gauntlet of heavy traffic.”
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