Taxi driver dies in horror bridge crash

FATAL: The scene of a horror crash on the Story Bridge. Picture: Adam Armstrong Source: The Courier-Mail

A PERSON has died after a horrific head-on collision between a taxi and another car on the Story Bridge in Brisbane, police say.

The “devastating” crash closed the inbound lanes and cut the outbound lanes on the major road artery from 4.45am Friday, with four people taken to hospital.

The age or gender of the person has not been released.

At 8.40am, police said all lanes of the Story Bridge are re-opened after being closed for almost four hours.

Earlier, motorists were told to avoid the Story Bridge during peak-hour after the two-car crash happened about 4.45am Friday.

A Department of Community Safety spokeswoman said a total of four people were taken to hospital.

All lanes on the Story Bridge heading into Brisbane's city are closed after a head on crash.

“In the private vehicle, there was a female driver who was trapped and she had a male passenger,” she said.

“In the taxi, the male driver was trapped and he had a male passenger.”

The people were taken to either the Royal Brisbane Hospital or the Princess Alexandra Hospital, she said.

The ages and injuries of those hurt was not known.

Queensland Fire and Rescue Service Inspector Mark Welsh said firefighters were forced to use cutting equipment to free the occupants from the cars.

FATAL: The scene of a horror crash on the Story Bridge. Picture: Adam Armstrong

“A person was trapped in their vehicle with serious injuries and it took about three-quarters of an hour to remove them,” he said.

He described the scene as “devastation,” with debris strewn across the road.

“It was a serious incident with bits and pieces off both vehicles,” he said.

Earlier, the Australian Traffic Network said drivers were facing “heavy delays” through the area after authorities closed Main Street inbound at River Terrace and Shaftson Avenue at the Main Street exit due to the accident.

“We advise people to take Vulture Street into South Brisbane and then onto Grey Street, instead, or take the Pacific Motorway to the Riverside Expressway,” reporter Jay Lane said.

TRAFFIC: An accident between a taxi and a car closed lanes of the Story Bridge in Brisbane. Picture: Adam Armstrong

The Forensic Crash unit is investigating.

CRASH: The two vehicles involved in the crash on the Story Bridge. Picture: Adam Armstrong

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Mum's $500k compo for needle horror

Needle stick injury Robyn Wright with sons Bailey, 9, and Cooper, 8. Robyn received a needle-stick injury while staying at a Brisbane holiday apartment complex and has been awarded compensation. Source: The Courier-Mail

A MOTHER of four who lived for 18 months with the fear of getting HIV after being stuck by a needle in a "filthy" Brisbane holiday apartment has been awarded almost $500,000.

Robyn Wright, 45, says she has never recovered from the anxiety of having repeated "indeterminate" HIV test results, until finally getting the all-clear.

"It's ruined my life," Mrs Wright said, after winning her case in the Court of Appeal this month.

"I went from being a mum with a job I enjoyed and being happy to someone who couldn't function properly. I still get flashbacks," she said.

Mrs Wright, her husband Geordie and youngest children Cooper, then three, and Bailey, five, paid about $700 to stay in Bonapartes Serviced Apartments at Spring Hill for a week in April, 2009.

Mrs Wright, then a South Australian hospital worker, began cleaning the apartment on the third day, after getting little response to her complaints about the dirty state of the rooms, the court heard.

"It was absolutely filthy," she said.

Mrs Wright found toenail clippings, hair and a condom wrapper under a bed, a mouldy leaking air conditioner, ants behind the toilet and a shower head held together with cotton buds and tape.

It was while she was cleaning dirty and sticky internal stairs that a discarded needle, hidden by dust and fluff, pierced through a rubber glove and became stuck in her finger.

The court heard that Bonapartes' own hired cleaners had done a $44 standard clean of the apartment six days earlier.

Mrs Wright had to give up her job and has not worked since.

Mrs Wright sued apartment operators KB Nut Holdings for breach of contract for failing to make the apartment "as safe as reasonable care could make it", but a District Court judge rejected her claim last year.

He found that any needle between the stair tread and riser would have been "unobservable to the reasonable observer".

However the Court of Appeal unanimously overturned that decision, awarding Mrs Wright $494,750, after finding "a reasonable person . . . would have taken the precaution of properly cleaning the premises".

Justice John Muir said because the apartment had been left in a filthy condition the needle would have been obscured from view by a build up of dust, hair and fluff.

"This was never about the money. It was about the principle. You have the right to stay somewhere that is clean and a safe environment for kids," Mrs Wright said.

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Mum's $500k compo for needle horror

Needle stick injury Robyn Wright with sons Bailey, 9, and Cooper, 8. Robyn received a needle-stick injury while staying at a Brisbane holiday apartment complex and has been awarded compensation. Source: The Courier-Mail

A MOTHER of four who lived for 18 months with the fear of getting HIV after being stuck by a needle in a "filthy" Brisbane holiday apartment has been awarded almost $500,000.

Robyn Wright, 45, says she has never recovered from the anxiety of having repeated "indeterminate" HIV test results, until finally getting the all-clear.

"It's ruined my life," Mrs Wright said, after winning her case in the Court of Appeal this month.

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"I went from being a mum with a job I enjoyed and being happy to someone who couldn't function properly. I still get flashbacks," she said.

Mrs Wright, her husband Geordie and youngest children Cooper, then three, and Bailey, five, paid about $700 to stay in Bonapartes Serviced Apartments at Spring Hill for a week in April, 2009.

Mrs Wright, then a South Australian hospital worker, began cleaning the apartment on the third day, after getting little response to her complaints about the dirty state of the rooms, the court heard.

"It was absolutely filthy," she said.

Mrs Wright found toenail clippings, hair and a condom wrapper under a bed, a mouldy leaking air conditioner, ants behind the toilet and a shower head held together with cotton buds and tape.

It was while she was cleaning dirty and sticky internal stairs that a discarded needle, hidden by dust and fluff, pierced through a rubber glove and became stuck in her finger.

The court heard that Bonapartes' own hired cleaners had done a $44 standard clean of the apartment six days earlier.

Mrs Wright had to give up her job and has not worked since.

Mrs Wright sued apartment operators KB Nut Holdings for breach of contract for failing to make the apartment "as safe as reasonable care could make it", but a District Court judge rejected her claim last year.

He found that any needle between the stair tread and riser would have been "unobservable to the reasonable observer".

However the Court of Appeal unanimously overturned that decision, awarding Mrs Wright $494,750, after finding "a reasonable person . . . would have taken the precaution of properly cleaning the premises".

Justice John Muir said because the apartment had been left in a filthy condition the needle would have been obscured from view by a build up of dust, hair and fluff.

"This was never about the money. It was about the principle. You have the right to stay somewhere that is clean and a safe environment for kids," Mrs Wright said. 

Fiona Leddy, of Shine Lawyers, which represented Mrs Wright, said owners of short-term rental premises had a legal duty to ensure they were reasonably safe and free from risks of injury to their guests.

"This means ensuring that all reasonable steps are taken to properly clean and inspect the premises prior to entry," Ms Leddy said.

"Discarded syringes are sadly an ever increasing health hazard in our society and unfortunately for Robyn the failure on the part of the defendant to appropriately clean and inspect these premises has had a devastating impact upon her life."

Ms Leddy said the Court of Appeal decision would allow Mrs Wright the opportunity to seek the help she needed.

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Woman trapped after horror smash

A MAN has died and a woman has been airlifted to hospital after a horror collision between a truck and two cars in Melbourne's north-west this morning.

It is believed a truck carrying a trailer and two cars collided on the Gisborne-Melton Rd in Toolern Vale, 39km north-west of Melbourne's CBD near Melton, just after 9am.

Ambulance Victoria spokesman Paul Bentley said a man in one of the vehicles was pronounced dead at the scene, while a woman in another car was trapped in her vehicle with serious injuries.

Emergency services flanked by three Ambulance crews attempted to extract the woman from the vehicle, while an Ambulance helicopter was on standby at the scene to transfer her to hospital.

Mr Bentley said the woman, aged in her 40s, was extracted from the vehicle just after 10am.

She was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition suffering leg injuries.

He said reports suggesting the woman was in a critical life-threatening condition were incorrect.

A CFA spokeswoman said it had taken three emergency services crews almost an hour to free the woman from the car and said emergency services would remain on site to help clear debris.

"The truck driver isn’t injured, but we believe the truck has been overturned," Mr Bentley said.

The road remains closed in both directions between Diggers Rest-Coimadai Rd in Toolern Vale and Benson Rd.

Drivers are advised to use the Calder Fwy as an alternate route as emergency services work to clear the scene.

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Three killed in horror smashes

THREE people have died overnight in an horrific period on Victoria?s roads.

Two people were killed and a man was critically injured when a ute carrying six people rolled over in Glengarry, in Gippsland, at 2.40am.

Police say several people were thrown out of the vehicle when it rolled onto its roof as it left Maffra-Traralgon Rd.

The first police officers on the scene undertook CPR but two of the crash victims, a teenager and person in their early 20s, died from their injuries.

Another man was airlifted to a Melbourne hospital suffering critical injuries.

The Major Collision Investigation Unit is on scene, as police try to determine who was driving the utility at the time of the crash, and how it happened.

The tragic incident happened just hours after a 23-year-old Strathfieldsaye man was killed after he lost control of his car and hit a tree near Bendigo, just before midnight.

The car was travelling south on Guy Hill Rd, Strathfieldsaye, when it left the road, rolled several times and hit the tree.

The man died at the scene.

Nobody else was in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

Police will prepare a report for the Coroner.

The latest deaths bring the state’s road toll to 59, eight fewer than the same time last year.

angus.thompson@news.com.au
 

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Horror over 'funny-tasting' hotel water

Elisa Lam's body was found in a water tank of the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles after guests complained about low water pressure. Source: AP

A COUPLE on holiday in Los Angeles have told how they drank, showered and brushed their teeth with water from a rooftop tank at a hotel - where a woman's body had been decomposing for three weeks.

It was only when the bloated body of 21-year-old university student Elisa Lam was discovered this week that they found out why the hotel water tasted "funny".

Sabina Baugh, 27, spent eight days with husband Michael, also 27, at the Cecil Hotel in downtown LA.

The area has one of the highest crime rates in the city, so rather than go in search of bottled water at night, they drank from the tap.

Yesterday Mrs Baugh, a piano teacher, said: "The water did have a very funny, disgusting taste. We never thought anything of it. We thought it was just the way it was here."

Mr Baugh, a guitarist and music teacher, added: "The moment we found out, we felt sick to the stomach, quite literally. We're not well mentally. It's the psychological stuff. If you think about it, it's not good."

The couple also said water at the hotel, given a two-star rating on review site TripAdvisor, had been trickling from the tap. Other guests reported flooding. The couple, from Plymouth, are now staying in another part of the city and the authorities are testing the water in the area for contamination.

Police confirmed yesterday that the body was Elisa Lam, a student at the University of British Columbia in Canada, who was travelling to Santa Cruz in northern California when she disappeared at the start of the month to the distress of her family.

Police don't know how Miss Lam died or how she ended up in the tank on the roof of the hotel, which is protected by locked doors and an alarm.

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Horror over 'funny-tasting' hotel water

Elisa Lam's body was found in a water tank of the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles after guests complained about low water pressure. Source: AP

A COUPLE on holiday in Los Angeles have told how they drank, showered and brushed their teeth with water from a rooftop tank at a hotel - where a woman's body had been decomposing for three weeks.

It was only when the bloated body of 21-year-old university student Elisa Lam was discovered this week that they found out why the hotel water tasted "funny".

Sabina Baugh, 27, spent eight days with husband Michael, also 27, at the Cecil Hotel in downtown LA.

The area has one of the highest crime rates in the city, so rather than go in search of bottled water at night, they drank from the tap.

Yesterday Mrs Baugh, a piano teacher, said: "The water did have a very funny, disgusting taste. We never thought anything of it. We thought it was just the way it was here."

Mr Baugh, a guitarist and music teacher, added: "The moment we found out, we felt sick to the stomach, quite literally. We're not well mentally. It's the psychological stuff. If you think about it, it's not good."

The couple also said water at the hotel, given a two-star rating on review site TripAdvisor, had been trickling from the tap. Other guests reported flooding. The couple, from Plymouth, are now staying in another part of the city and the authorities are testing the water in the area for contamination.

Police confirmed yesterday that the body was Elisa Lam, a student at the University of British Columbia in Canada, who was travelling to Santa Cruz in northern California when she disappeared at the start of the month to the distress of her family.

Police don't know how Miss Lam died or how she ended up in the tank on the roof of the hotel, which is protected by locked doors and an alarm.

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