mmg.com.au

Wyndham St was the scene of a dramatic hour-long rescue yesterday after a car rolled near the Guthrie St intersection, trapping the driver.

The Ford Explorer mounted the curb, snapped off a small tree and ran up a guy-wire supporting a telephone pole coming to rest on the driver’s side.

Workers from the row of shops rushed to help and used their own weight to stabilise the vehicle.

Wyndham St Laundrette operator Patrick Dean said he heard the car crash into his sign and then the tree.

‘‘We ran over just to see if everyone was all right in the car,’’ he said.

‘‘It was on its side and leaning against the pole, we made sure it didn’t tip.’’

Rescue units from the Shepparton CFA, Shepparton Search and Rescue Squad and Tatura SES rushed to the scene securing ropes to the vehicle and anchoring them to cars parked in the nearby car park.

‘‘The vehicle being on its side we were worried that it could roll onto its roof, paramount for us is the safety of the driver in the car,’’ Shepparton Search and Rescue Squad Commander Mick D’Elia said.

As the rescue progressed the windshield was cut out to provide better access to the patient and several times emergency workers used ropes and manpower to tilt the car so that spinal boards and other braces could be fitted.

Mr D’Elia said paramedics initially wanted the vehicle carefully pulled back onto its wheels.

‘‘That was a little bit more complicated than we hoped, the vehicle was heavier and it was difficult to do that.’’

The solution was to use the jaws of life to cut and peel away the roof and the driver was extracted at 9.43am, nearly an hour after the crash happened.

A Rural Ambulance Victoria spokesman said the woman in her 50s was conscious throughout, but complaining of back and chest pain. She was taken to Goulburn Valley Base Hospital as a precaution.

Shepparton Highway Patrol Senior Constable Mick Jarrett said the rollover occurred after a collision between two vehicles.

‘‘They have made contact while changing lanes,’’ he said.

The female driver and a one-week-old baby in the other vehicle were not hurt.

The north bound lanes of Wyndham St were closed for more than an hour while the rescue and clean-up took place.