SPECTACULAR ACCIDENT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 January 1939, Page 3

SPECTACULAR ACCIDENT

VAN CRASHES INTO PAPER OFFICE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) HASTINGS, January 21. The collision of a cart and a delivery van at the intersection of Karamu and Avenue Roads this afternoon resulted in one of the most spectacular accidents seen in Hastings for many years. The van swerved across the footpath, up a flight of steps, smashed through two sets of doors and came to rest beside the counter *h the vestibule of the “Hawke’s Bay Daily Mail” office.

The van, driven by Mr David William Malcolmson, Wellington, was travelling north along Karamu Road and when crossing the Avenue Road intersection it collided with a light car driven by Miss E. Allison, Hastings. A swerve to the left by Mr Malcolmson was partly successful in minimising the impact, and the van struck the car a glancing blow, damaging the car’s front wheels and axle. The van then swung across the road, missed a heavy lamp post by inches, crossed the footpath and leaped up a steep flight of five concrete steps facing across the corner and leading to the offices of the “Daily Mail.” Without an inch to spare on either side the van charged through the brick-framed doorway at the. top of the steps, burst open the swinging glass doors leading into the office and tore them from their supports, entered the office, and came to rest amid a welter of splintered timber and smashed glass against a heavy counter.

The door through which the van passed after negotiating the steps provided so close a fit that each lintel scraped the mudguard and runningboard for the full length of the vehicle and when the van came to rest it fitted the doorway so lightly that portion of the woodwork on one side had to be levered off before the van could be freed, more than an hour's work being necessary.- Obviously when the vehicle was mounting the steps there was little hope of guiding it with anything approaching accuracy, and an inch either way might have spelt disaster. No injuries were received by the occupants of either vehicle.