Minor injuries for Ann and George Duffield after traffic accident

Trainer Ann Duffield praised the emergency services on Monday after walking away from a traffic accident on the way to the races which left her car badly damaged.

Duffield was travelling to Redcar with husband George, who was driving, when the pair’s Range Rover suddenly veered off the road and into a ditch and hedges alongside the A19 near Crathorne, 17 miles south-west of Redcar.

The airbags deployed, leaving Duffield with minor cuts and bruises, and she said: “The car went off the road and isn't in a good way but we’re okay. I’ve got a few cuts and bruises on my face as the air bags came out and did their job.

“The police were amazing and were there in no time. It wasn’t pretty but we’re very lucky.”

The reasons for the accident are a mystery to Duffield, who added: “We don’t know what happened. The car is embedded in hedges and trees along the A19 and until they get a good look at it we really don’t know what happened; it just went off the road. I was asleep and George was driving and it happened so quick.”

The sight of Duffield’s Range Rover lodged in shrubbery at the side of the road has already caught the attention of other racing professionals.

“Royston Ffrench just called to say he’d seen a Range Rover in the hedge,” Duffield said. “I told him we like to find unusual places to park!”