Car gets wedged outside historic Bath hotel

The car crashed into the Francis Hotel in the early hours of the morning

Diners at one of Bath's historic hotels were met with an unusual sight on Mother's Day when a car became wedged against its basement windows.

Avon Fire and Rescue Service said they were called to the Francis Hotel in Queen Square at about 04:45 GMT on Sunday.

A rescue crew freed one of the occupants from the vehicle, while another was able to get out by himself.

The car remains stuck but the hotel is open as normal.

Emily, 47, was visiting family from London for Mother's Day lunch when she saw the accident.

She told BBC West: "We thought it might have been a small fire but we looked over the railings and there was a whole car fitted in there and people making jokes about parking - you can't really see how it got down there.

"There was quite a large section of the railings that were broken and some stonework had also been damaged, so you could see it must have been quite high impact.

"There was a fire engine and a few crew, but there didn't seem to be anything happening - I don't know if the fire crew were just guarding the site.

"The hotel was open - it was a bit strange because you could see through the window and there were people having their lunch and their afternoon tea above where the car was."

A member of staff at the hotel said the basement was used for storage and guest rooms had been unaffected.

A fire crew helped one male exit the car, while another got out by himself

A spokesman for Avon Fire and Rescue said: "We were called at 04:45 due to a car having left the road and colliding with a hotel and ended up in a precarious position over a basement area.

"An ambulance was in attendance and requested we help them rescue a young adult male from within that area."

Firefighters used specialist equipment to free the male, the spokesman said, before handing him into the care of paramedics.

"We worked closely with the Francis Hotel to make sure their business was not affected," the spokesman added.

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