Saturday night at home?

Press, 23 September 1980, Page 3

Saturday night at home?

PA Napier After almost identical car accidents on the last two Saturday evenings, Miss Deborah Hawke, aged 19, of Hastings, could be excused for staying home this Saturday evening.

On both Saturdays, she was in a car which plunged down a bank and overturned while on the way to Waimarama a beach resort 26km from Hastings. Each time Miss Hawke had a lucky escape from serious injury. The first time she broke a window to scramble out of the car and last Saturday she was trapped, her head just above water, until a passing motorist freed her. The first accident happened 10 days ago on her nineteenth birthday when her own car ran off the Te Mata Road. It crashed 26m down a bank, landing on its roof on wet ground. She and a

girlfriend broke a window and climbed out with only minor injuries. About 8 p.m. last Saturday Miss Hawke was travelling to Waimarama in a car driven by a friend. The car skidded in loose metal and plunged 50m down an almost sheer bank and landed on its roof in a pond. A policeman who had taken particulars of the first accident was startled to find himself interviewing the same person. A tow-truck driver who attended both accidents asked if Miss Hawke would let him know where she was going this Saturday. “Then I can follow you,” he said.