VAN OUT OF CONTROL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21515, 12 June 1933, Page 8

VAN OUT OF CONTROL

RUNAWAY IN QUEEN STREET DRIVER JUMPS FOR SAFETY An escape from serious injury was experienced by the driver of a light motor-van which became out of control while it was descending Lpper Queen Street at 2.30 on Saturday afternoon. The van crashed into a corner of the United Service Hotel and waa extensively damaged, but the driver, Mr. A. F. Murray, jumped from tho vehicle just before it crossed the intersection of "Wellesley Street. He received only minor cuts and abrasions. " All I could do was to keep the van on the X road," said the driver. "It slackened speed near the Town Hall and when 1 j innged off a few feet above the corner of "Wellesley Street it was doing about 30 miles an hour. I first turned the wheel with the idea of directing the truck up Wellesley Street West, but the front wheels straightened when they struck the tramlines." At the time there was little traffio in Queen Street and no trameiirs were near the corner. A man who was standing on the footpath outside the hotel heard the van approaching and ffiis able to jump aside before it mounted the kerb.