A VAN collided with a telegraph pole in Rangeworthy close to a primary school minutes before children were due to leave the building.

Yesterday afternoon, the police were called to Wotton Road to reports of a vehicle colliding with a telegraph pole which had fallen across the road, close to Rangeworthy C of E Primary School.

The van driver, for electrical parts supplier Bristol Auto Electrical from its Bristol base, was taken to hospital.

Eleanor Felton, a resident who lives around 100 yards away from where the incident took place, said: “I was in the car with my husband Frank going down Church Lane, and when we turned the corner we saw the van in the garden of the old vicarage.

“A huge pole with electric cables was down, it was terribly dangerous. It is very worrying, if this had happened in another 15 minutes or so the school children would have finished school and be walking down.

“My two grandchildren who attend the school, or any other children, could have been hurt."

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: “We were called at 2.35pm to a collision between a vehicle and a telegraph pole on Wotton Road in Rangeworthy.

“The pole had fallen down and blocked the road.

“The road was closed for safety reasons and reopened at 3.50pm. The driver was taken to hospital, his injuries are unknown.”

A spokesman for Bristol Auto Electrical said: “The driver was taken to hospital but that is all we know at this point.”