OAPs hurt in accident at A38 black spot
The second serious accident in the space of a fortnight occurred on a notorious stretch of the A38 road through the Glynn Valley on Thursday.
The crash involved a coachload of elderly passengers from Cumbria, thought to have been on a day's outing to Trago Mills from their Newquay hotel, and a 38 tonne articulated fish lorry. Nine people from the coach were injured and six were taken to Derriford hospital, where one was said to be suffering from quite serious injuries.
After the accident, which occurred at 10.50am near the Halfway House Inn, the coach crashed into a hedge. It had been travelling eastwards, while the articulated lorry was travelling westwards, from Paignton to Newlyn to pick up fish.
A local doctor was quickly on the scene and set up a triage to help the walking wounded, although there were reports that one lady had suffered an angina attack. It is thought that the worst injury involved a broken collarbone. A police spokesman said that it was lucky that the injury toll had not been worse.
The accident took place very near the spot where a lorry driver had a similarly lucky escape last week when his Atkinson articulated lorry was involved in a crash with a mobile crane. The crane, travelling in the opposite direction, was impaled through the window of the lorry. The driver had to throw himself flat in his cab to avoid it.
In Thursday's accident the driver of the S registered Volvo lorry, and the coach driver, both avoided serious injury, although the coach driver was taken to Derriford. However the incident led to the road being closed and the summer weekend one-way system at Dobwalls being installed. Diversions were in place for some hours, as heavy lifting equipment was needed to move the 50 seater coach from the wide hedge where it had embedded itself. The diversion itself suffered congestion when a petrol tanker suffered a blow-out of a tyre.
The coach passengers were taken to Trago Mills to recover, where they were given cups of tea and coffee by the staff. The police spokesman said that they were due to return to Cumbria on Saturday.