A DRIVER died following a crash in Southbourne despite desperate attempts by the public to revive him.

The 33-year-old from Bournemouth appeared to become ill at the wheel, said witnesses.

He lost control of his Volkswagen Golf and veered into two parked cars in Southbourne Grove on Monday.

The accident happened outside Winkworth Estate Agents, near the Grove Pub, at around 6.25pm.

A regular from the pub with medical training ran to help and administered CPR.

David Midgley, a partner from Winkworth, helped the regular get the driver out of the car.

He said: “I opened the car door and the guy looked pretty unwell.

“He wasn’t responding.

“He was incapable at that point.

“He was actually having a fit.

“There were three of us that helped him from the vehicle.

“I was just assisting the chap with medical training, whatever I could do.

“It was horrible.

“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

The driver was taken to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital but died a short time later.

Wayne Kent, 30, a team leader at the Victory Pub at The Village, was driving past just after the accident.

He told the Echo: “There was a man lying on the pavement and everyone in the pub said he’d had a heart attack.

“The regulars in The Grove were quite emotional.”

A shop worker, who asked not to be named, said: “The car was heading towards Christchurch when it just veered off and smashed into the cars, though it wasn’t that fast.

“The people helping put him in the recovery position and he stopped breathing so they started doing CPR.

“Then the police arrived and did CPR and then the ambulance crew arrived and carried on.

“I spoke to the guy who did the CPR and he was pretty upset.”

Andrew Grief, 35, owner of Pete’s Pantry, whose flat overlooks part of the scene, said: “I heard a massive bang like somebody had smashed into a building.

“People dragged the man from the car and started doing CPR.”

A 71-year-old resident, whose flat overlooks the scene, said: “We heard the bang and five minutes later there were five police cars and two ambulances.”

Police said the cause of the crash is currently unknown.

A post mortem will be carried out today.

Officers photographed the scene before the vehicles were removed and the road re-opened at around 9.50pm.

A bunch of flowers was left near the scene yesterday morning.

Witnesses should contact PC Andy Loveless at the Western Traffic Unit of Dorset Police on 101.

• A woman injured in a collision with a black Ford Focus at Charminster Road in the early hours of Sunday morning was still in a critical but stable condition in hospital yesterday, police said.