Driver rushed to hospital after car ploughs into wall

A MAN was taken to hospital after his car collided with a boundary wall in Henley.

He had been driving his Subaru along Thames Side at about 4.30pm on Monday when he suffered a suspected medical episode.

The car crossed the junction with Friday Street and ploughed into the front garden wall of a listed property opposite.

Freddie Young, who lives in Hamilton Avenue, witnessed the crash while out walking his two-year-old Labrador Humphrey.

He said: “I was walking Humphrey and we were just coming down Thames Side when we saw the car head straight into the wall.

“After looking in the window and seeing this poor guy I called the ambulance. About five of us had seen it happen and we all ran over.

“There was a doctor on scene who knew what to do, so I just stood back and took the phone call while she dealt with it.”

Mr Young, who works as a bartender, said that while he was on the phone, another bystander tried to break open the driver’s window so they could try and get him out of the car. He said: “It was all pretty dramatic. Henley was gridlocked at the time and it was pretty lucky that no one had been walking along the pavement by the wall. Had he turned the wheel a second or two earlier he could have gone directly into the river. It would have been a lot worse.”

Mr Young said it took the ambulance about 10 minutes to arrive and during that time two police officers and a fire engine came to the since. He said: “Two police officers had been walking past and the fire engine was driving past but then stopped and the doctor was there by chance as she was just walking past. So, we were actually pretty lucky.

“I stayed until the ambulance arrived and then I thought at that point there was no need for me to be there. There were so many people around him and I thought I am of no use anymore.”

The police closed Thames Side and Friday Street while firefighters from Henley and Didcot stabilised the vehicle by putting blocks under the wheels so it couldn’t move.

The firefighters then used hand tools to recover the man from the vehicle so he could be assessed by paramedics before being taken to hospital by ambulance.

There were traffic queues formed over Henley Bridge during the road closure but it had been reopened by about 6.10pm, when the car had been towed away.

A tree surgeon had also been called out to ensure a neighbouring tree was unaffected and was declared safe while the brick wall was also tidied up so not to cause any danger.