Eloise Horsfield
EXCLUSIVE by Eloise Horsfield
A GROUP of Britons have described the ‘sheer terror’ they felt when a drunk driver crashed into them as they were having their afternoon tea in Torrox.
One of the seven expats lost her pet dog in the accident, which involved a Spanish drunk driver said to have been talking on his phone.
The group, aged between 53 and 70, were sitting outside Paco’s Bar in Torrox when the 4×4 suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
“It just came piling into the tables and smashed everything in sight,” said Les Jones, 55.
“It was carnage, with everyone screaming. There was broken glass everywhere.”
He continued: “Apparently the driver was three times over the limit, as well as being on his mobile.”
The lorry driver’s wife Paulette, 53, was jammed between a tree and a table and three people were rushed to hospital in Velez Malaga, including 64-year-old Valerie Fahey.
“A massive plant pot hit me square on the leg and I’ve got a foot-long bruise,” she revealed.
“In fact, those pots saved our lives. If it hadn’t been for those, we’d probably all be dead as they seriously slowed down the car.”
Sadly though the pots were not able to save the five-year-old Yorkshire terrier cross Bobo owned by Jenny Dunleavy.
“His leg was broken in two places and had to go to the vets to have six pins in it. But fluid got on his lungs on the operating table and he turned blue,” she said.
“We’re cracking up over it. The house is empty without Bobo. Nothing can replace him.”
The group have described their anger about the fact there is no kerb stone in the new plaza in Torrox, and nothing to distinguish the road from the pavement.
“There is nothing to stop a car careering through. It was an accident waiting to happen,” said Jones.
Thank you for bringing this terrible incident to everyone’s attention, but apart from interviews with some of the affected, it’s just another example of lazy Olive Press journalism, paraphrasing articles appearing in Spanish and English press a week or more before – where are the follow-up questions to the Police, to the Town Hall, to the Guardia Civil? What’s the next step in the legal proceedings, where and when? Come on Olive Press, you can do better than this.
Get you all involved together and sue this guy’s pants off. Three times over the DUI limit, talking on the mobile while driving.. causing serious injury & death to a dog. Unless he’s a Spanish mayor, dept. head, relative of…, or “special friend”… jail him & get compensation from his Insurance company
Dear hard working Torrox resident,
We rarely, if ever, get comments from police on matters like this… Nor from companies, nor town halls… We try, sometimes a dozen times… But then knowing a lot about Spain you’ll know that… any constructive, useful comments would be appreciated, that’s if you are not too busy!