A VAN crashed off the road at a village pub near Christchurch in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The black van, belonging to electricals supplier Fonix, ended up wedged over the stream by the Woolpack Inn in Sopley.

It appears the vehicle came off Ringwood Road and crashed into a bridge and fence panels.

Police and fire service crews attended the scene this morning and the van remained above the stream this afternoon.

A spokesperson for Hampshire Constabulary said: "We were called at 4.47am following reports of a single vehicle collision on Sopley Bank.

"The vehicle, a Vauxhall Vivaro, collided with a wall and ended up over a stream.

"When officers attended no one was in the vehicle.

"No injuries have been reported. Investigations are ongoing."

A spokesperson for Fonix said: “We were made aware of the situation just after 9am this morning and we are investigating to understand what has happened.”

In 2015, staff at the Woolpack Inn witnessed a spate of crashes in the road which runs from Christchurch to Ringwood.

The surge in incidents came during the previous scheme of work on the A338.

Teela Liberty-Spark, co-owner of the Woolpack Inn, told the Daily Echo: "The council put in a post to protect the bridge and we have enough protection there with all the fencing.

"There is no reason if people drive sensibly that crashes should happen.

"The post has been taken out and that is supposed to stop this sort of thing from happening."

"People have been going round the road several times to take a look and filming it on their phones which isn't safe.

"Hopefully it gets moved soon but they are going to have to close the road.

"We just want people to drive safely.

"There was a series of incidents when the A338 had work a couple of years ago.

"People use this road as a detour and there tends to be larger vehicles coming along here as well."