AN elderly couple lay undiscovered and trapped in their upside down car for over an hour after it crashed through a fence and down a 12-foot drop near the care home they were living in.
The female passenger eventually found her mobile phone in the car and called for help. The husband and wife, both in their 80s, were then rescued by Gloucestershire fire service working with crews from Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) before being taken to hospital with chest injuries.
The pair had driven off an edge near the Hollies Care Home in Dursley.
GWAS received a 999 call at 11.09am from the wife and a paramedic in a rapid-response vehicle was on scene at 11.23am. Even then, it was difficult to locate the patients as they were down a muddy embankment out of sight of the road.
It appears the couple had been going out in their Honda Jazz automatic at around 10am. The car surged forward from the car park of the retirement flats before going through a fence and rolling on to its roof.
The Great Western Air Ambulance, with two critical care paramedics on board, landed nearby, while two GWAS ambulance crews and an incident officer also attended.
Both patients were mechanically trapped in the vehicle. Once freed, they were assessed and treated on scene before being taken to Gloucester Royal Hospital by road ambulances.
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