CAR’S PLUNGE OVER DANGEROUS BRIDGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 143, 7 September 1927, Page 1

CAR’S PLUNGE OVER DANGEROUS BRIDGE

WHAU CREEK ACCIDENT PASSENGERS’ LUCKY ESCAPE Plunging through the railing of the Whau bridge, a Checker taxicab last evening carried its driver and two passengers to the bed of the watercourse. All three escaped with only minor injuries.

The Whau bridge is an ancient structure spanning a tidal creek. Awkwardly placed, it is below the level of the concrete road, which ends, on either side, some little distance from the bridge. The macadam approach is not in the best order, and the narrowness of the bridge makes it one of the most dangerous spots in the neighbourhood of Auckland. Just after 6 o’clock last evening the Checker car, driven by Mr. Harry Deverell, sen., was approaching the city, the passengers being Mr. S. Fenton, of 16 Golf Road, Epsom, and his : daughter, Mrs. H. G. King, of Hen- ! derson. CRASH THROUGH RAILINGS ! Visibility was poor, owing to rain, | and a front wheel of the taxi ran on the wrong side of the wooden kerbing, | with the result that the car suddenly slewed round, crashed through the i railing, and somersaulted into the | shallow water 20 feet below. Mrs. ; King suffered an injury to her foot, : while Mr. Fenton’s chest was hurt, ! and Mr. Deverell was cut over one eye, : and on one of his thumbs. He was | taken to the hospital, and the other two people were driven to their desfiliation in another Checker car. Had the tide been in there would have been ten feet of water in the I creek, and the victims of the accident might have suffered a dreadful fate. | As it was the tide was on the ebb and a breakdown gang was immediately sent to the spot: to salvage the dara- | aged car before the turn of the tide.