Car occupants nearly hit by flying dumbbells in crash

Fire crews from Banbury, Brackley and the specialist technical rescue team from Mereway, in Northampton were called to the B4525 near the Helmdon crossroads at around 7.55am.

The male driver, who was trapped and had leg and head injuries, had to be cut out of the car while the female passenger was walked from the vehicle, shaken but uninjured, before the arrival of the fire crews.

Station manager Dave Bray, from Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service also attended the incident.

He said: “The man and woman, whilst very unlucky to have been involved in a collision in the first place, were so lucky that the outcome was not far worse.

“In the car were a large number of iron dumbbell weights, and during the collision these had been ejected from the car with such force that they were scattered along the road, the furthest one being approximately 40m from where the car had come to a halt.

“If one of these items had struck either occupant of the vehicle, or another vehicle close to the scene at the point of impact, it would have caused horrific, if not life threatening injuries.

“I would like to take this opportunity to remind all drivers of the virtues of ensuring that everything that you carry in your vehicle is tethered down or in the boot. Even a small everyday innocuous item that could be present on your backseat or in the passenger foot wells could so easily become a lethal projectile in the event of a collision”.