Plaque to honour hero tanker driver

Lambourn remembers 1953 tragedy

A hero tanker driver who saved the lives of Lambourn residents is to be commemorated with a permanent memorial in the village.

At a full meeting of Lambourn Parish Council on Wednesday, September 2, councillor Tina Nims proposed installing a memorial plaque at the crash site.

It was April 13, 1953, when a 10-ton tanker carrying 3,600 gallons of jet fuel lost control and careered down Hungerford Hill with its deadly cargo.

Unable to stop, the driver – 36-year-old Reginald Bungay of Swindon, Wiltshire – repeatedly sounded his horn to warn residents.

He managed to swerve between cars parked on either side of the High Street and across the village square before he crashed, demolishing three shop fronts and a three-storey building before the tanker overturned in Oxford Street.

Mr Bungay, who had recently married, was trapped in the cab and died in the explosion.

As jet fuel ignited, running down the gutters, two thatched cottages and three houses caught fire and were razed to the ground.

Other nearby homes were badly damaged and families were evacuated.

In all, 26 people, including five children, belonging to 11 families, were rendered homeless.

According to the village website, it was a “miracle that, apart from the driver, no one else was injured”.

Mrs Nims said: “If it wasn’t for the driver’s bravery, giving people enough time to run to safety, people could have been killed.”

She said villagers had suggested a plaque on the Memorial Hall.

But a resident attending the meeting, Linda Angus of Oxford Street, said: “I think it was where my house is that one of the buildings was demolished. I would be happy for the plaque to go there.”

The council thanked Ms Angus and voted to explore the possibility of siting the plaque there.