Man crushed between cars

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33655, 3 October 1974, Page 1

Man crushed between cars

A man was crushed between two cars during a sales demonstration of one of the cars in an Armagh Street garage yesterday.

Mr John Torode, sales manager of the New Zealand Motor Corporation, Ltd, was standing in front of the demonstration car when it lurched forward suddenly and trapped his legs. He was taken by ambulance to Christchurch Hospital with extensive injuries to both legs and severe shock. He was admitted to the resuscitation ward, and later transferred to another ward, where his condition last evening was comfortable. Mr R. Roach, the manager of the division, said the accident occurred about 1.45 p.m. while an automatic car was being shown to a client

“He was sanding between the car and another car in front when another salesman stepped into the demonstration car, and the motor coughed. "The car leapt forward and crushed Mr Torode. He was obviously in great pain, and we thought he was badly injured." Mr Roach said the cause of the car’s leaping foward was not known. Two policemen began inquiries into the accident yesterday afternoon. On examination in Christchurch Hospital, neither of Mr Torode’s legs was found to be broken, but a bone in one was believed to have been dislocated and both were badly cut