Something has to be done!

Tuesday's 3.33am collision brought traffic chaos until gone 8am as emergency services worked to clear the trunk road.

Their sleep shattered by the "absolutely horrendous" sound of the smash, Matthew Powell and his wife hurried out into their garden to comfort the injured car driver, trapped in the wreckage of his badly mangled vehicle.

The accident happened when an empty Rambler coach travelling east was in collision with the west-bound car on a slight bend.

Still locked together, car and coach crashed into the Powell's garden.

At the scene, Mr Powell said: "There was this horrendous, absolutely horrendous SMASH!

"Then we heard the car driver calling out for help.

"My wife and I went out to help and comfort him. My wife kept talking to him to keep him conscious until help arrived.

"He was trapped in the car until the fire brigade cut the roof off to get him out.

"The coach was travelling empty at the time. The coach driver was OK but was shaken up.

"When I first got there the car was smoking. I had a fire extinguisher but I didn't want to use it in case it was the wrong type and made it worse.

"When the fire brigade arrived they soon had the roof off.

"The impact brought down a 40ft cherry tree in our garden. It was fortunate that the tree was there. If it had not been there the vehicles could have gone into the house."

Smashed fencing a few doors up the road bears witness to one of the other recent accidents on this stretch of the A259.

Mr Powell said: "Something has to be done about this road.

"This is the third accident on this section of the road in a matter of weeks. It just makes you worry about the road. There is more and more need for a bypass."

Two fire crews from Bexhil were joined by colleagues from Pevensey and Battle at the scene.

Crew Commander Graham Hobden said: "When we arrived the car driver was trapped. The dashboard had come down over the lower part of his body and his feet were trapped.

"He appeared to be in quite a bad way and the paramedics were keen to get him out as quickly as possible, which meant cutting the roof off."

He said: "In addition to two crews from Bexhill we had crews from Pevensey and Battle. That is normal procedure where a heavy goods vehicle or a coach is involved."