A 79-YEAR-old woman is recovering after driving her car through a wall and down a steep bank into a stream last week.

The woman is thought to have panicked after reversing her automatic Vauxhall into the road and hitting a neighbour's wall at Chillaton, around lunchtime on Wednesday last week. She then appears to have driven back into her garage but failed to stop, ploughing through the blockwork wall and down the bank into the stream.

Police arrived at the scene within minutes of the incident. A spokesman said: 'On arrival, officers found a blue Vauxhall had dropped some three metres into a river, with its front wheels under water. The driver of the car, a local woman in her seventies, had got out of the vehicle, but had to be carried from the water by police. She was then treated for the effects of cold and leg injuries.'

The woman was taken to Derriford Hospital where her condition was described as stable.

Local road diversions were in place in Chillaton for around two hours following the incident. The police spokesman said the woman had been 'very lucky' to have escaped without more serious injuries. No-one else was involved in the incident.