Grandparents' day-trip treat ends in crash

A couple on a day trip with their grandson had to be cut free from their wrecked car after a collision with a camper van.

The smash happened on Miners Way, Burntwood, at around 11.20am yesterday .

The crash, halfway between Burntwood Rugby Club and Chasewater Heath railway station, blocked off Miners Way for around two hours while firefighters rescued three passengers - believed to have been two grandparents taking their grandson out.

The grey three-door Peugeot was on the road parallel to a vintage railway line where a steam train was passing when the accident happened.

When fire crews arrived the child had been taken out of the car in his safety seat, but the elderly driver was trapped in the driver's seat and the female passenger was trapped in the back of the car.

Fire crews cut off the car's roof and driver's side door before the two elderly passengers were immobilised using spinal boards. All three were taken to Walsall Manor Hospital as a precaution.

Watch manager Allen Kimber, from Lichfield fire station, said: "It was a sharp rear shunt. It was quite a bad accident but it could have been a lot worse given the weight of the van behind it.

"When we arrived the two grandparents were complaining of back pain."

A junior football match was taking place at Burntwood Rugby Club at the time of the smash, and club manager Paul Rogers rushed to help direct traffic and later helped police clear away debris by sweeping shattered glass from the road.