Great-grandmother killed as van crashes into house
Said to have been speaking with her great-granddaughter on the phone at the time
A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER was killed when a Ford Transit veered off the road and crashed into her house.
The woman, in her 90s, is said to have been speaking with her great-granddaughter on the phone at the time of the crash, say neighbours.
Police have arrested two people who were believed to have been in the white van when it struck the woman’s semi-detached house, in a cul-de-sac in Clevedon, North Somerset, yesterday evening.
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Julie Elson, 57, who had known the woman for 37 years, told The Times: “She was on the phone to her great-granddaughter at the time. She heard the whole thing over the phone the poor girl. She lives in the area and heard the bang and came down the road in her nightie. She was hysterical, screaming.”
The accident damaged the gas supply to the house and neighbouring houses were evacuated for fear of an explosion.
Robert Cornock, 71, was one of the first on the scene: “I was cutting the grass in the back garden and heard a terrific bang. I ran across and saw a white Transit van embedded in the wall of the house.
“Me and my neighbour went in. We called her name but couldn’t see her at all because she was buried underneath the rubble in the living room. She wouldn’t have known anything about it, it would have been so quick.
“We could smell gas right away so we had to get out quickly. Unfortunately, the van was parked against the gas meter, trapping it, so it had to be removed before the switch could be turned off.”
Mr Cornock added: “She was a friend of mine. I’d decorate her house and have a cup of tea with her now and then. Her husband had dementia and passed away nine or ten years ago. She had worked in a munitions factory in Coventry during World War Two.”
