Woman killed in car crash

A Shropshire woman died after the car she was driving left the road and smashed through a fence.

The woman, who has not been named but is in her 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene, close to The Mere visitor centre on the A528 near Ellesmere.

Police today appealed for witnesses to the collision.

Sergeant Michael Keen said: "The car, a green Vauxhall Vectra, left the road and went through a fence before ending up in the Castle Fields car park.

"The female driver, a woman believed to be in her 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

"We have yet to establish what time the collision actually occurred, but it was discovered shortly before 8am on Saturday.

"The car is believed to have been travelling towards Shrewsbury when it left the road and went through a fence, before ending up in the car park."

The A528 was closed in both directions while emergency services worked.

Elsewhere two people were rescued from fires in the area.

An elderly woman had to be rescued from her smoke-filled bungalow by her husband and a neighbour following a blaze near Oswestry.

The woman was carried to safety in her wheelchair from her home in Brookfield Close, Weston Rhyn, yesterday morning.

Neighbour Geoffrey Hill, 73, said he was alerted by the woman's husband just after 8am.

Mr Hill said: "I was getting out of my car and the man who lives there was saying 'keep back, my house is on fire'.

"His wife was still inside and he couldn't help her on his own, so we both went in and lifted her out from the lounge in her wheelchair. The fire was in the bedroom and there was a lot of smoke. It was getting worse and I could see the reflection of the flames in the sideboards."

Adrian Bowen, Oswestry crew manager said the homeowners, aged 85 and 84, "had a very lucky escape" and said the cause of the fire had been put down to "human error."

A man in his 80s and his dog were rescued from a bungalow by firefighters during a blaze near Tenbury Wells. The man, named locally as 80-year-old Tom Diblick, was dragged from the property in Border Way, Burford, just before 8.30pm on Saturday.

By Deborah Collins and Tom Johannsen