Oswestry chef tells of accident drama as tons of maize crushes car
A young chef has told how he was seconds from being crushed under tonnes of maize as he finished work.[gallery]
Dan Baynham was leaving the Queen's Head pub near Oswestry when he heard a crash and ran outside to see his car buried by a mountain of green, the weight completely squashing the black, Skoda Felicia.
The maize had fallen out of a trailer that overturned when it was being towed by a tractor on the bend outside the pub, just off the A5 trunk road.
It happened as farmers were carrying out the maize harvest.
Friday's drama left the 21-year-old shaken, but grateful he had not been at or inside his car.
"I had finished the lunchtime shift and was literally about to walk out of the door," Mr Baynham said.
"A minute later and I would have been in the car.
"There could have been a completely different outcome."
The Queen's Head is owned by Mr Baynham's father, David, and his wife, Niamh.
"I have been working here for four years and am really enjoying it," the chef said.
"I am just very grateful that I am back here working this week. If I had finished work just a minute earlier I may not have been. It does not bear thinking about."
The road outside the pub had to be closed while the trailer was righted and the maize removed.
In another accident on Saturday a trailer carrying hay overturned on the Mile End roundabout near Oswestry, closing the busy road for an hour.
