Bonnet flew open as woman drove her car

A PREGNANT woman was forced off a busy road when the bonnet of her car suddenly flew up and smashed her windscreen.

Louise Gallie was driving her Renault Clio along the A50 at 50mph at the time.

The 26-year-old, of Fern Crescent, Congleton, said she was lucky not to have been seriously injured after slamming on the brakes.

She said: "I thought I was going to crash and if I had been on the fast lane on the motorway, I would have been dead."

Manufacturers have insisted that the bonnet release catch on the model has passed safety checks and that any faults stem from poor maintenance.

Bank worker Mrs Gallie was travelling between Holmes Chapel and Knutsford to get to work at around 7.30am last Tuesday.

The force at which the bonnet flew back smashed the windscreen and damaged the car's roof.

Husband Geoff, aged 31, said: "Had she been on a corner and lost visibility it could have been horrific, never mind thinking about being on a motorway."

The couple, whose first child is due in January, are now looking for answers after they first received a letter from Renault in June inviting Clio owners to have bonnet catch mechanisms checked at local dealerships as a gesture of good will.

The Gallies did not take up the offer, but say that the car has been fully serviced each year since they bought it for £5,700 in 2004.

Mr Gallie was so unhappy that he left the damaged vehicle around the corner from Macclesfield's Renault dealership and covered it in posters detailing the incident.

It has been estimated that the car will cost £2,400 to repair.

A Renault spokesman said that Mrs Gallie had confirmed that the bonnet of the vehicle had been lifted two days prior to the incident and advised that the couple get the catches checked once repairs had been carried out.