Ditch plunge driver `lucky to be alive'

From the archive, first published Friday 14th Oct 2005.

CHIPPENHAM NEWS EXCLUSIVE: A MAN trapped unconscious down a 20ft gully for six hours after his car flew through the air and hit a tree said he is lucky to be alive.

Police officers have branded Jeremy Pike's escape a "miracle" after he survived the crash near Chippenham with hardly a scratch.

He has no memory of the crash but police believe his car spun 30ft through the air, crashed through a hedgerow, smashed into a tree and dropped into a deep gully where he lay unconscious while a full-scale search was mounted.

Mr Pike, 34, of North Leaze, Corsham, had been driving along the A420 between Giddeahall and Ford, near Chippenham, at about 5.45am on Friday.

All he remembers is desperately phoning his wife Karen for help and then being rescued by firemen who cut him free from his car just after midday.

Mr Pike said: "I am lucky to be alive.

"I remember phoning my wife at about 10am and saying `Can you come and rescue me I'm in a ditch'.

"I was feeling sheer panic. I wasn't sure what to do. That's why I phoned my wife. I was quite confused as to where I was."

Mrs Pike, 43, phoned her husband's colleagues at Fosseway News, Vincients Road, Chippenham, where he works delivering papers. They had already mounted a search after his customers complained he had not turned up ­ but could not find him because he was out of sight down the gully.

Manager Justin Pickford said: "By 10am one of our employees had gone out looking for him. We thought he might have gone to sleep in a lay-by somewhere. It just didn't make any sense."

Mr Pike said: "They couldn't see me anywhere. The ditch was about 20ft deep and in the end they had to get down with ropes to get to me."

He was taken to the Royal United Hospital, Bath, but only had to stay one night before he was allowed to go home.

He has a black eye and bruises on his arm and neck but is relieved the injuries were not more serious.

Mrs Pike said: "I don't know how he has got off so lightly really.

"I was panicking at the time. I didn't know where he was.

"I couldn't get a proper signal on the phone. All I got was `I'm in a ditch, come and rescue me.'

"At first I thought he was messing around and then I thought it didn't sound right.

"The only thing he said was he was near a fire station but he wasn't. He was confused."

Even Mrs Pike's colleagues at Octavian in Gastard, where she is a data entry clerk, got involved in the search.

"They were getting maps out and looking for roads that could be near the fire station but that was all a red herring," she said.

Pc Mark Burnett at Corsham traffic, who attended the scene, said: "It's a miracle he got out of that in one piece.

"The car was obliterated. He's a very, very lucky man."

Mr Pickford added: "It's just unbelievable that he came out of that.

"The roof on the driver's side was lower than the steering wheel."

He said that stretch of road is a notorious accident spot and thinks crash barriers or warning signs should be put up.

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