Falling rock crushes car

A driver narrowly escaped serious injury when a falling boulder collapsed the roof of her car.

Lauren Cooper, 19, was near Kaikoura when a boulder "the size of a couple of basketballs" struck the car roof above her head, punching the roof inward and shattering the driver's side window.

She said there had been heavy rain in the area the previous night that must have loosened the hillsides flanking the road.

Ms Cooper said: "I must have seen it coming somehow. The rock struck the roof above me and all I knew was there was glass all over me. I had to get out through the passenger door.
"You can't sit in the driver's seat now because the roof has been pushed in too far.

"Mum called emergency services straight away and told them.

"I just had a bump on the head but when the ambulance crew saw the car they were apparently expecting serious head and neck injuries," she said.

"There were some tears but they were all over pretty quickly."

Ms Cooper said the Toyota cannot be driven and will probably be written off.

- WAIRARAPA TIMES-AGE