Crash, van, wallop

A man has told how he was making a telephone call when a van hit the front of his house.

Mr Andy Wimble described the impact as being like an earthquake as the vehicle crashed into the window on Church Street, Southwell.

No one was hurt as the van, travelling towards the town centre, left the road and crashed into two houses, owned by Mr Wimble and his wife, Kathy.

The couple live in one of the homes, at 67, and rent the neighbouring property to Miss Gillian White, 29, a teacher at Bowbridge Primary School, Newark.

The buildings, which are in a conservation area, were propped up to prevent further damage, and Church Street was closed for several hours after the accident at 10am on Friday.

Mr Wimble said: “I was making a phone call sitting in the front window and I was literally dialling the number when there was this huge explosion and what felt like an earthquake, and then the room went completely black because it was filled was dust and there was a lorry in the window.”

The properties have since been boarded to await repair, which could take some time.

The structural damage to Miss White’s home means she has temporarily moved out to stay with friends nearby.

The Wimbles have remained at their home, and believe the repair bill will be covered by insurance.

Miss White, who was not home at the time of the crash, said Sparkle, a class rabbit at Bowbridge primary, was rescued from her house by firefighters.

“You don’t expect a van to ram itself into the front of your home. It’s a bit of a shock,” she said.

Remy Bardwell, 15, was sleeping in the house attached to the rear of Miss White’s home when the van crashed.

She said: “It felt like an earthquake. I sat up and the next moment someone was knocking at the door telling me to get out of the house.”

The properties were assessed by a Newark and Sherwood District Council building control surveyor.

A local contractor carried out the work to make the buildings safe and secure.

Retained firefighters from the Southwell station were the first on the scene.

Station manager Mr Fraser McNish said when they arrived there was little they could do other than to make the area safe.

The accident has prompted road safety concerns.

Mr Wimble said there had been near-misses in the past.

He said: “It’s always been an accident waiting to happen. It’s lucky no one was on the pavement because it’s quite a busy thoroughfare.”

He said there were often traffic problems and residents often saw road-rage incidents and heard the screeching of brakes.

The Nottinghamshire county councillor for the area, Mr Bruce Laughton, said he would be calling for the county’s accident investigation team to look at Church Street.

“This is the fifth accident in a short space of time on this stretch and we need to look into solutions to the problems there,” he said.

“What we don’t want is a fatality, so we need to look into why it is happening.”

A county council spokesman said there were no current plans for an investigation as only accidents that caused injury were referred to them by the police.

They had no records of injury accidents on Church Street.

She said if residents had any ideas about ways to make the road safer they should contact the county council.