A pensioner was left battling for his life after being involved in a horror crash with a car being driven – by his WIFE.
Bob Withy, 66, had been travelling along a flooded road in Hook Norton, Oxon, when he smashed into his wife’s oncoming vehicle last Monday (13/6).
Emergency services rushed to the scene just after 4pm where they found one of the vehicles dangling perilously over a precipice just metres above a lake.
After fire crews retrieved the vehicle, Mr Withy was rushed to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital with life-threatening injuries where he received extensive surgery.
His wife Sarah, 53, also sustained serious injuries and was taken to the same hospital.
Incident commander Nigel Matthews, from Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “This was a tragic incident of a couple who collided going in opposite directions.
“In all my years I have never been called to such an incident.”
Hook Norton parish council chairman Emma Kane said the whole community was shocked following the freak crash.
Mrs Kane said: “I have previously asked highways to call the police to close the road because of the flooding in this dip but it’s very difficult to get hold of anyone in Oxfordshire County Council to report issues.
“The road from Milcombe to Hook Norton is very dangerous and there are numerous potholes that people swerve to avoid and the damaged verges forcing drivers to use the middle of the road instead.
“Add the overgrown verges and poor visibility to the general lack of maintenance and I’m not surprised there has been a dreadful accident.”
