GAZETTE & HERALD: WILTSHIRE Police has expressed regret and embarrassment after an unconscious woman involved in a car accident, lay undiscovered in the damaged vehicle until she reached a breakdown garage.

Superintendent Peter Russ issued a statement this week, following an enquiry into the incident, which happened on Saturday February 7.

The woman, who has not been identified, was a passenger in a Renault Clio, which collided with an unattended Land Rover in Abberd Way, Calne.

Police officers and members of Wiltshire Ambulance's civilian First Response team attended the accident. But while the female driver of the Renault, Lisa Michelle Hartley, 33, of Calne, was arrested and charged with driving with excess alcohol, officers and ambulance staff concluded that the car was empty.

It wasn't until the car had been removed by D & C Fry and taken to their premises at Kington Langley, that a human hand was seen in the back of the car and the passenger was discovered.

Supt Russ said: "She was in the rear floor well between the front and rear seats, occupying a gap estimated to be around 7 inches (22 cms).

"She was discovered laying face down and wearing dark clothing."

The woman was subsequently taken to the Great Western Hospital, Swindon, by ambulance and released 11 days later.

"With the benefit of hindsight it is always easy to identify things that should or should not have been done.

"In this most unusual case, everything indicated to the officers that there was no-one else in the car. They had no grounds to question what they had been told and responded accordingly.

"We have apologised to the passenger and explained the highly unusual and extenuating circumstances in this case.

Ms Hartley, who is in the RAF, based at Grantham, who gave Chippenham Magistrates a forwarding address as Newcroft Road, Calne, pleaded guilty to drink driving on February 12. Sentencing was adjourned to March 22.