Shocked Brian Matthews had a miracle escape when a car veered off the road and smashed into a wheelie bin - which flew through the air and sent him crashing to the ground.

Brian, 59, of Black Bourton, had already beaten alcoholism and cancer, so it was third time lucky when the car missed him by inches.

He said: "After those two things I thought there was nothing more life could throw at me." As Brian was putting his rubbish out, the car:

HIT a telegraph pole, spinning the vehicle sideways across the grass;

SMACKED a neighbour's wheelie bin, catapulting it against Brian;

KNOCKED him into a tree, leaving him flat on his back;

COLLIDED with a second post, spinning it round again; and

CAREERED up Brian's drive, hitting his car, knocking scaffolding into the roof and spraying the house with gravel.

Brian told the Oxford Mail: "I was thrown about six feet into a tree and then landed with a crash on the ground."

He was treated for severe bruising and cuts at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, where specialists said his injuries tallied with being hit by a flying bin.

He added: "I have just got to laugh about it and I thank God I did not have more serious injuries, but cars really do go far too fast along this road."

Although Brian can see the funny side, he and his neighbours are deadly serious in calling for a lower speed limit on the Alvescot to Black Bourton road.

The speed limit outside his house is 60mph. Residents want it halved. Brian's wife Peggy said: "It really is time something was done. We have had quite a few accidents along here and both my husband and our neighbour have been hit as they turned their cars into our driveways."

Oxfordshire County Council is carrying out a review of speed limits. The review for west Oxfordshire is expected to take place over the next two or three years.

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