A FAMILY-OF-THREE have been injured after their van careered off Bath Road in Nailsworth and plunged down a 10ft bank.

The incident occurred at 9.09am, at the junction of Old Bristol Road, Butcher Hill’s Lane and Bath Road near Nailsworth Town Hall.

Neighbours told the SNJ that a van had been travelling down Bath Road into Nailsworth, with a car waiting to pull out of Old Bristol Road.

One woman, who works at the town hall, suspected the second car, driven by a man, had mistakenly seen an indicator.

The van containing what neighbours believe to be a family, crashed through several road signs before coming to a halt on its side in Butcher Hill’s Lane after a 10ft drop.

A man and woman managed to free themselves from the Renault Kangoo before the fire service arrived.

However, a teenager – believed to be the man and woman’s son - was trapped in the back of the van in his wheelchair and had to be freed by fire services.

Two fire crews attended, one from Nailsworth and one from Stroud.

All three people were taken to hospital by the South West Ambulance Service at around 10am.

Old Bristol Road residents since 1961, Robert and Betty Fletcher, feel that road safety must be improved on the junction, their garden has already been substantially reduced to improve visibility.

Betty said: “It’s so dangerous here, people speed across this junction and at some point there’s going to be a bad accident.

“It never used to be as bad as this and it’s getting worse.”

Robert feels that adding another road sign to their garden wall will prevent further accidents as well as preventing people from marking their vehicles on the grass verge that is near the junction.

Bath Road has a 30mph speed limit, there is a vehicle activated sign just past the junction which one resident said had not been working for about six weeks.