AN ACCIDENT near Penryn, in which a car flipped onto its roof leaving the driver dangling from their seatbelt, has sparked renewed calls for a single roundabout on the A39 at Treluswell.

The male driver of a black Fiat had to be cut free from the car by firefighters after the collision, which happened at around 5.30pm on Sunday evening.

A member of the Falmouth Coastguard Rescue Team who was driving past at the time of the incident stopped to help the victim.

He found the man in the driving seat held up by his seat belt. He managed to turn off the engine and ignition before entering the vehicle to help the casualty by keeping his head and neck steady.

A spokesperson for the coastguard said: “Once paramedics had arrived, the casualty was assessed and decided that the seat belt could be released to make the casualty more comfortable, and now that the fire and rescue service had arrived it was decided that the pillar and door was to be removed to allow for a better extrication.

“Our team member stayed in the vehicle throughout this procedure keeping the gentleman's neck steady and as soon as Cornwall Air Ambulance had arrived on scene, he was relieved of his duties by a HEMS Doctor, the casualty was then successfully removed from the vehicle into the care of the air ambulance.

“The occupant of the other vehicle involved was uninjured.”

Along with concern and best wishes for anyone involved, there were calls on Facebook site Penryn Legends for measures to cut the amount of accidents at the junction, with user Marylyne Jeanne Webb writing “always Treluswell,” and Sally Palmer adding “not again, hope alls ok.”

Tracy Hellings wrote: “Perhaps traffic lights needed at Treluswell cause everyone tries to cut across that roundabout and there’s been so many awful accidents there.

“Perhaps the council ought to get their act together and sort them out.”

John Andrew wrote: “Traffic lights would not work as there is too much traffic from all four directions, what they need to do is just put one big roundabout there.”

Trevor Hull replied: “They used to have traffic lights at Treluswell many years ago, but as the traffic got busier they changed it to roundabouts, but I do agree one big roundabout would be better.”

A spokesperson for the South West Ambulance Service said one male and one female patient were treated at the scene.

The road was closed to traffic until around 8pm while a clean-up took place, and a police spokesperson said there was “nothing suspicious” and it was not a policing action.