UPDATE: 5.40pm

 

A spokesman for Gwent Police said the driver misjudged the speed of the corner in wet conditions and hit the kerb, causing the car to flip, but could not confirm whether they will be investigating.

It has now emerged that there is no suspicion that diesel was on the road at the time of the crash.

UPDATE: 11.28am

 

South Wales Argus:

Pic by Jum Sullivan

JIM Sullivan, 69, from Caerleon, was paying for petrol when the car turned over.

He rushed out to help the driver, who was trying to climb out through a door window.

He said: "I was paying for my petrol and suddenly the woman behind the glass panicked. I looked up and saw that the car was lying on its side just yards away from where we were.

"It had mounted the curb, gone into the petrol station and turned on its side. I ran out along with somebody else. The chap couldn’t get out initially. He climbed out of the door window and we helped him place his feet as he was coming out."

He described the driver as a man about 30 years old.

Mr Sullivan added: "He seemed very shaken up indeed. I took him into the place where you pay and arranged for him to have a seat. By then the fire engines and the ambulance were coming.

"If he’d collided with pumps it could have been very serious indeed. It begs the question should they have a barrier separating the traffic coming in with the station itself."

He said the accident happened around 9.40, when the road was slippery due to rain.

I think he was very lucky. He could have collided with an oncoming vehicle or gone further into the petrol station. He was lucky also that his car didn’t catch fire. It could have caused an explosion.

"I imagine the car will be a write-off. The roof was all scraped and the windscreen was broken. I’m sure he was wearing a seatbelt – he would have gone through the windscreen otherwise."

UPDATE: 10.30am

A MAN was taken to hospital this morning after his car flipped on its side at Sainsbury's in the Crindau area of Newport.

The large Toyota family car overturned after it allegedly hit a patch of diesel while entering the store near the petrol station this morning.

The male driver has been taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The manager of the petrol station refused to give a comment. The Argus has contacted Sainsbury's for a comment.