Church Street 4am carnage

THIS was the wreckage-strewn scene after a 4am horror smash in Bangor last week.

A driver pulverised a van and wrote off a people carrier, both of which were parked outside homes on Church Street, when his vehicle crashed into them.

Now the owner of both vehicles is pleading with roads authorities to act quickly before someone is killed.

“This is the second time in two years that something like this has happened,” said Neil McKelvey.

“At night this street is like a racetrack but the corner with Clandeboye Road is pretty sharp and dangerous. It’s only a matter of time before someone loses their life.”

Last week’s horror smash happened in the early hours of Monday, July 19. Mr McKelvey had parked his works van and his car near his home as usual, only to be woken at 4am by a noise he says was ‘like a bomb going off’.

“My wife and I were both woken up, but she screamed when she looked out the window,” he said. “The works van was obliterated and you couldn’t even see the car from our window.

“I got outside, it was pretty clear the van was hit first and then it crashed into the car. The car was thrown forward about 30 feet, but in a way it was lucky it was there; if it hadn’t been, that van could easily have gone through somebody’s wall.

“Both of them were write-offs. There were some tools in the back of the van, they were totally destroyed, and it would’ve cost more to fix the car than it was worth. The car that hit them was in the middle of the road, it’s a miracle the driver survived.

“The police arrived on the scene quickly, they said they’d left the station before I’d even called 999. Apparently the crash was so loud they could hear it from where they were and went out looking for the cause.”

Making matters worse for Mr McKelvey, he’d bought the car – a Japanese four-wheel drive people carrier – just three months before it was destroyed.