Mini-miracle as car rolls down 18m bank

A smashed Mini sits 25 meters down a bank off Reid Rd in Welcome Bay. Both the driver and the passenger walked away from the smash with minor injuries. Photo / Joel Ford

A Mount Maunganui man and his girlfriend are lucky to be alive after their car went off a gravel road and plummeted down an 18m bank.

Gordon Campbell, 21, and his girlfriend were travelling along Reid Rd, Welcome Bay, about 3.45pm. On a corner their car, a Mini Cooper, went off the road and down the steep bank.

The pair were on their way to play golf at the Summerhill Golf Course.

At the accident site, Mr Campbell's mother Michele Campbell said the car rolled about three or four times. She said the impact of the rolling motion forced the boot of the car to eject open. As a result, one of the golf clubs in the back had broken in two.

Mrs Gordon was phoned by her son immediately after the accident.

"He said 'mum I've been in an accident', he told me he was fine but the car was totalled.

"That's a long way down, they're very lucky to be alive, it could have been a whole lot worse," she said.

An ambulance spokesperson said the two people were lucky not to have been seriously injured. He said the driver, Mr Campbell, complained of a sore shoulder but his passenger was uninjured. The pair were taken to Tauranga Hospital for observation.

Firefighters, ambulance officers and police attended.

Mrs Campbell said she was grateful her son was driving a "sturdy" car. "The mini ... saved their lives. If it was any other car they'd be squashed."