An experienced member of the Hawke's Bay Today overnight delivery team was admitted to Hawke's Bay Hospital early yesterday after the van she was driving crashed on a rural road between Napier and Hastings.
Jenny Povey, of Hastings, suffered a broken leg when the van struck a railway crossing barrier on Ruahapia Rd, near Whakatu, about 3.50am.
A former secondary school physical education teacher, she has been a member of the Hastings-based team since 2001, and was travelling home after completing a daily Napier run she had been doing since the newspaper's switch from afternoon to morning delivery last month. Her husband, Philip, is a former member of the team, and son Scott works for newspaper printers APN Print.
Hawke's Bay Today circulation manager Robert Cimino said Mrs Povey was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, and was fortunate to escape even more serious injury.
She was trapped in the vehicle for a short while before being freed by a Fire Service crew from Hastings and taken to hospital by the St John Ambulance Service. She remained in hospital last night.
The van was extensively damaged.