Wordsley councillor relives horror of A5 road smash
A councillor from the Black Country has hailed his family's 'miracle' escape after they survived a horror crash in which their car was flipped over two times.
Derrick Hemingsley had been driving back from Prestatyn in North Wales when his Toyota Avensis was in collision with an oncoming car.
His car rolled over twice before landing on its side. But Councillor Hemingsley, his wife Catherine, 49, son Daniel, 11, mother Eileen Potts, 82, and aunt Phyllis Attwood, 96, escaped with broken bones, cuts and bruises.
They had been for a weekend break at Haven holiday camp and had been returning to their homes in Kingswinford when the crash happened on the A5 in West Felton, near Oswestry, on Monday.
Councillor Hemingsley, 52, who represents Wordsley on Dudley Council, was able to kick open the door and get out of the vehicle before fire and ambulance crews arrived.
Firefighters then cut the roof off the car to free his family. His mother had been flung from the back seat to the front of the car and suffered broken ribs and a broken collar bone. She was airlifted to hospital for treatment.
His wife had a concussion and whiplash and his aunts suffered cuts and bruises.
His son, who had been asleep when the crash happened, injured his foot from broken glass from the windscreen. The couple in the Chevrolet were not believed to have been injured.
Councillor Hemingsley, who was also just left with cuts and bruises, said today: "It's a miracle that we are all here to tell the tale. The police told me that if the car had hit us just six inches higher, it could have been fatal."
The road was closed from 3.40pm until 10pm while police worked to clear the crash scene and remove the wreckage of the car.
