AN ELDERLY woman was taken to hospital after the broken-down car she was being towed in came loose and smashed head-on into an oncoming car.

Seventy-year-old Bonita Barrett was steering her granddaughter’s car on the A4042 towards Pontypool when the towing eye came loose and it crashed on an Abergavenny road on Monday, July 21.

Mrs Barrett had arrived to help out her 17-year-old granddaughter Courtney who was out on a driving lesson when the clutch cable snapped and the car broke down.

The RAC were called and arrived at the scene on Llanellen Road, Llanfoist, just after 5.30pm, fitting the towing eye to the broken-down Fiat Seicento.

But then the car came loose. Linda, 51, Mrs Barrett’s daughter Courtney's mother, said: “My mother told the RAC she’s never been towed before but they just said it would be fine.

“I was so angry. I could see how upset my daughter was."

Courtney Barrett, who is studying for her A-levels at St Alban’s RC School in Pontypool, said: “I was traumatised. I was just so upset for my Nan, she was really shaken up.

“My driving test is booked for next Thursday but I don’t know whether I’ll be able to take it now.”

Paul Griffiths, mechanic at Usk Bridge Motor Repairs, where the smashed car was taken, said: “The RAC never screwed the towing eye in properly, it’s just incompetence.

“I can’t understand who in their right mind would put a pensioner in the car to tow, especially when she said she’d never been towed in her life. It’s just unbelievable.”

A spokesperson for the RAC said: “We are extremely sorry for this unfortunate incident. This situation is extremely rare and we are conducting a full investigation into the cause.

“We are in contact with Mrs Barrett and her family and doing all that we can to help.”

Mrs Barrett underwent an ECG and some x-rays but was discharged from hospital the day after the incident.