Collision between Volvo and van closes Vale Road
VALE ROAD, St Sampson’s, was closed for four hours on Saturday after a black Volvo saloon collided with a white Ford van that had been coming in the opposite direction.
The Volvo was being driven inland at about 2.50pm when the accident occurred.
The saloon came to rest when it hit a granite wall about 25 yards past the van.
A wheel from the Volvo lay next to the van.
The driver of the van, Dariusz Ryszczuk, 51, said he had been driving home towards the Halfway in the van that belonged to the company that he worked for.
The Volvo, he said, had been coming towards him on the wrong side of the road and he had not been unable to avoid it.
‘Thank you God that nobody had been walking there at the time as they would be dead,’ he said.
All emergency services attended. Guernsey Fire and Rescue Service duty officer Pierre Laine said they had responded to reports of a road traffic accident involving two vehicles.
‘When we got here we found that one person was trapped in the Volvo,’ he said.
‘We worked with St John Ambulance to assess the casualty and stabilise the situation.’
The roof had to be cut off the Volvo and the driver was removed on a spinal board and taken to hospital. Their condition was not known. Nobody else had been in the car.
Mr Laine said off-duty fire staff had to be called in to cover the rest of the island as most of the services resources were dealing with the accident.
‘We are also grateful to the good information we got from the Joint Emergency Services Control Centre which enabled us to respond with the appropriate appliances,’ he said.
A significant amount of oil was spilled on the road which was not reopened until shortly before 7pm when it was deemed safe to do so by the attending emergency services and the appropriate signage warning other drivers of the hazard had been put in place.
