A 4X4 left the road on a dangerous bend in Dursley this week and ended up hanging precariously over a steep drop.

Only a single tree saved the silver Mitsubishi Shogun from a sheer drop down the side of the road on Whiteway Hill when it careered off the lane at around 7.30am on Tuesday, August 12.

The vehicle destroyed fencing and damaged trees in the collision but the female driver was unhurt.

With the vehicle off the road, two recovery trucks did not appear to collect it until around 3.30pm, with police closing off the hill to motorists.

The recovery men faced a challenge dragging the 4x4 off of the steep kerbs on the hill, with the weight of it dragging one of the tow trucks along the road a short distance.

At one stage it appeared the 4x4 was going to slip down the steep incline and end up where a number of cars have met their end and being left to rust as recovery is considered impossible in the dense woodland at the bottom of the hill.

The operation took under an hour before the 4x4 was taken away and the road reopened to traffic.

A Gloucestershire Police spokesman said: “The vehicle left the road on a bad bend and the driver arranged their own recovery. There were no injuries.”

A number of vehicles turned around when they saw the closed road but one lorry got stuck attempting the manoeuvre as the bottom of the trailer lodged the lorry in place on the steep incline.