AN ELDERLY woman had a miracle escape after her car careered off a Lancaster bridge into the fast-flowing River Lune.

The blue Citroen Saxo smashed through the ornate bridge wall of Skerton Bridge, close to Lancaster City centre, at lunchtime yesterday (Tuesday) and plunged 40 feet into the icy water below.

The car landed on its wheels but finished up 30 yards downstream with the 69-year-old woman from Barrow still at the wheel.

The tide was going out when the accident happened. A few hours earlier the river was high and flowing rapidly.

Huge crowds of onlookers gathered on the banks of the river, while around 25 fire-fighters were summoned to the scene.

Ambulances were called, mounted police blocked off one lane of the bridge and the North West Air Ambulance swooped into the city and put down on the south bank of the river.

Miraculously, the woman, who had not been named when the Citizen went to press, was not seriously injured.

The RNLI hovercraft rescued her from her stricken vehicle, which was in water up to its wheel arches, and she was taken to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary as a precaution.

Mike Hughes, who was working close to the scene, says: "We heard a massive bang and went across the road straight away. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the car in the river."

Lancaster fire station watch manager Karl Vietoris says: "The woman was in quite a remarkable condition given what had happened. She was shouting up to us on the bridge and putting her walking stick in the water to give us an indication of how deep it was.

"It could have been so different had the tide been in or if the car had landed differently. The woman was lucky although visibly shocked."

A police spokesman confirmed an investigation was under way into the cause of the accident, although it appeared the Saxo had been involved in a collision with a lorry on the bridge before plummeting into the water.