Van crashes after careering 60ft down a hill in Wombourne

The man was standing in the back of the parked truck attempting to unload a washing machine in Westbrook Way, Wombourne, when it began to roll down the incline.

As the van gathered pace the man, who is in his 30s and works for Currys delivery service Knowhow, took evasive action and flung himself into the road, sustaining a minor arm injury.

The truck knocked down one garden wall, crossed a road junction and ploughed through a two-foot high perimeter wall before eventually coming to a halt in the front garden of a home in Lamb Crescent.

Kevin Price, aged 47, was part way through a phone call when he looked out of his window and was confronted by a lorry in his front garden.

He said: "I put the phone down and went outside to see what had happened. It only missed hitting my car by a few inches. It was all a bit crazy." Mr Price's garden wall and a set of railings were completely destroyed in the incident.

One neighbour said she felt her house shake 'like an earthquake' when the incident happened shortly before 4pm on Wednesday. Veronica Davies, aged 31, said: "It was terrible. I was in the house and there was a massive smash. The whole house started to shake. I looked out of the window and was shocked by what I saw. It is lucky no one got seriously hurt."

The van driver, who was standing in the street when the wagon began to roll forwards, said she couldn't be sure what had caused it to start moving.

"I assume the handbrake failed but it's impossible to be sure," said the woman, who asked not to be named.

Fire crews from Dudley and Wombourne and police were called out to secure the area. It took a vehicle rescue team more than three hours to safely remove the van from the scene.

Watch commander Darren Smith, from Wombourne Fire Station, said: "It very lucky that the van's axle ground against the wall, which stopped it from going on to hit the house. This could have been far worse."