MARCH 19, 2023
By Harry Mottram: The residents and staff at the Grade 1 listed Francis Hotel on Queen Square in Bath are used to hearing the clunk of boules in the green across the road or the grind of passing traffic but not perhaps when a car crashes into the hotel.
The BBC’s Tess de la Mare reported on an extraordinary accident this afternoon in Bath (19th March 2023) when a vehicle dropped into the hotel surprising the Mothers there enjoying their afternoon teas at the top venue.
She reported: “Avon Fire and Rescue Service said they were called to the Francis Hotel on Queen’s Square at about 04:45 GMT on Sunday. A rescue crew freed one of the occupants from the vehicle, while another was able to get out by himself. The car remains stuck but the hotel is open as normal.”
Tess de la Mare also reported on Emily, 47, who was visiting her family from London for a Mother’s Day lunch when she saw the accident.
Emily told BBC West: “We thought it might have been a small fire but we looked over the railings and there was a whole car fitted in there and people making jokes about parking – you can’t really see how it got down there.
“There was quite a large section of the railings that were broken and some stonework had also been damaged, so you could see it must have been quite high impact.”
“There was a fire engine and a few crew, but there didn’t seem to be anything happening – I don’t know if the fire crew were just guarding the site.
“The hotel was open – it was a bit strange because you could see through the window and there were people having their lunch and their afternoon tea above where the car was.”
Apparently the car is lodge by the basement which is used for storage and so guest rooms in the hotel had not been unaffected.
Avon Fire and Rescue attended to rescue a man and an ambulance was in attendance to assist a young man involved in the accident.
Tess is a West of England reporter with BBC Bristol having worked for Reuters and studied at the University of Sheffield.
The photo is by Tess.
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