Six-year-old Daisy Ogle is lucky to be alive after her father's car ploughed into the back of a scaffolding lorry.

Shocked Graham Ogle, 46, of Seacourt Road, Botley, told how the truck's tailgate ended up inches from Daisy's head as she was showered in glass from the smashed windscreen.

He said: "I turned out on to West Way and I leaned down to turn the radio down, and 'bang' - that was it. I did not see the lorry. "There were quite a few people about. One lady offered us a hot drink, the guys in the lorry gave us a cup of coffee, and somebody brought a blanket from somewhere. It just happened so quickly - literally within milliseconds. She was in the front seat wearing a seatbelt. Thank God for that."

Mr Ogle, a married father-of-three, was recovering at home with his daughter, who suffered minor cuts and bruises. Daisy, a pupil at The Manor Preparatory School in Shippon, was taken to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital after the 9am crash but later released. Police said the lorry had been reported for parking on a double yellow line near the parade of shops in Botley.

Pc Paul Davies said: "The scaffolding lorry was en route to a job in Cumnor and had stopped to ask for directions. They parked up on the side of the road with hazard warning lights on. Had the girl been wearing a child's booster seat, the metal may have hit her. She was very distressed."

The lorry is owned by Town and Country Scaffolding, in Banbury. A spokesman said they were waiting to speak to the driver.

Story date: Monday 18 October

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