Two Royal Mail employees had a lucky escape after their van flipped onto its side in Blackpool town centre. Picture thanks to Photo Team, Blackpool.The van collided with a white BMW at the junction of Caunce Street and Cookson Street at 2.20pm yesterday, leaving it half perched on the pavement and its windscreen cracked.
Amazingly, the drivers escaped from the vehicle uninjured and were not taken to hospital after being checked over by paramedics at the scene.
The driver of the BMW was lifted from his car by fire crews but wasn’t seriously injured and did not go to hospital.
Today witnesses told of the scene just seconds after the collision, which caused the road to be blocked for most of the afternoon.
Sean Clayton, who works at Photo Team, on Cookson Road, said the Royal Mail van ended up right outside his office.
He said: “There were four police cars and an ambulance when I arrived. The Royal Mail van was on its side with a big dent in the top of it.
“[The cars] ended up about 50ft apart, where the van has travelled down the road.
“Apparently it slid along the road after the collision.”
Robert McDougall, 76, of Patterdale Avenue, Blackpool, said: “The vehicles were heavily damaged.
“The Royal Mail van had overturned on its side and the front of the car was all bashed in. A lot of people were gathered but there wasn’t a lot they could do as the drivers had already been put in the ambulance.”
Police put diversions in place and advised motorists to avoid the area.
A Lancashire Police spokesman said: “One male was lifted out of the car by the fire service, and the ambulance service attended though there didn’t seem to be any injuries, just people in shock.”
A spokesman for the North West Ambulance Service said they had been called by several members of the public who witnessed the incident. Paramedics treated people at the scene for minor injures.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Thankfully no one was injured but our two postmen, on their way back to the nearby delivery office after delivering mail in the area, were both treated for shock and are now recovering at home.”
