A WOMAN lost her leg after being crushed between two vehicles, due to icy conditions in Tavistock on Sunday, December 18.

At 6.24am police received a report of a collision involving one car on Watts Road, Tavistock, near the junction with Spring Hill. An officer arrived at the scene to find conditions were extremely icy. The car had slid out of control on the ice and hit a wall but the driver was uninjured.

The female driver was taken to stand with the officer and another member of public some distance away from the scene, near the stationary police car while the officer prepared to put out warning signs.

As they were stood together, another car driving into Watts Road lost control on the ice and slid into the police car trapping the woman between the two vehicles. The police officer narrowly escaped injury, suffering only bruising, and the third person was believed to have jumped out of the way in time.

The trapped woman suffered very serious leg injuries. Ambulance crews experienced difficulty in getting to the scene due to the ice, but managed to get the woman to Derriford Hospital as quickly as possible.

Staff from Tavistock Community Hospital also rushed to assist, and even helped to provide access by spreading grit around the road to make it safe.

The woman had a fractured pelvis and unfortunately lost part of her right leg, from the knee down.

As a police car was involved in the collision, the incident has been automatically referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) for investigation.