News

Young Woman Dies In Fatal Crash

A 19 year-old girl died last night in a serious crash near the Lion War Memorial at the foot of Hopes Hill. She was a passenger in a silver Vauxhall Corsa driven by a 19 year-old man, in a single-vehicle accident. The man from Broadwell,was seriously injured and taken by air ambulance to Frenchay Hospital, Bristol. Police say the car was travelling in the direction from Longhope to Huntley, when it left the road on the corner at the foot of the hill, crashed into the wall, and caught fire. The young driver was pulled from the wreckage through the driver’s window by two of his friends.

An off duty first responder paramedic from nearby Mill Lane was first on the scene, followed by two ambulances, including trauma specialist doctors, and the Wiltshire air ambulance set down on the road at the Velthouse Lane junction, after doing several circuits of the area looking for an ideal spot to land. The A4136 was closed for most of the remainder of the night while investigations took place. The victim has been named as Leanne Davies, from Lydbrook. Friends have been laying fresh flowers at the scene. As is all too common, this poor young woman was not in charge of her own destiny. She was merely a front-seat passenger in a car driven by someone she trusted, but by someone who has wiped away her life, and ruined the lives of so many people who knew and loved her. When will this carnage cease, and the relentless waste of young lives? For all you would-be boy racers (and girl racers) out there, stop and read the tributes on the flowers at the scene of this crash, and ask yourself whether you would like to be the person responsible for the death of an innocent young person. You can't help but be moved by these words of sadness from Leanne's family and friends.