A bride-to-be spent her hen night in a hospital’s casualty department after a luxury stretch limousine hired to take her party out for a night on the tiles crashed.

Pamela Raymond, 33, of Tudor Drive, Hilperton, described how her hen party turned to horror when the 40ft pink limousine they were in collided with another car on the A363 near Bradford on Avon on Saturday night.

The hen party, all dressed in Moulin Rouge outfits, spent the evening at the A&E department at the Royal United Hospital in Bath after suffering injuries including bruising and a broken collar bone.

Miss Raymond, who is to marry her 30-year-old fiance Wayne Heath in Cyprus on June 9, had been looking forward to a fun-filled night out in Bristol.

“We had started the evening off at my house with a pre-party and then got into the Hummer to go to the Gala Casino and then Chicago Rock Cafe on the Waterfront in Bristol,” she said.

“We had just been getting into the mood and I was changing the radio to a song I liked when we heard an almighty bang and I went flying into the mini-bar.

“Next thing I knew there was screaming and the screeching of tyres before the Hummer stopped.”

The driver, Steve Pickford, who Miss Raymond described as a hero, opened the door and got the 10 ‘hens’ out in a hurry, as there was petrol spilling everywhere and a gas canister in the back of the vehicle which could have exploded.

“It was all such a blur and we were panicking because the whole thing could have exploded,” Miss Raymond said.

“We all ran down the road away from the vehicle to safety and although the driver was shaken he kept checking that we were all right.

“He was brilliant, a true hero. The limousine company was brilliant as well.”

Police and firefighters from Bradford on Avon closed the road and two ambulances arrived shortly afterwards and paramedics tended to the women. Four women, including Miss Raymond, were taken to the Royal United Hospital in Bath – one woman hurt her back, another broke her collarbone, a third had inhaled smoke fumes while the bride-to-be had a badly bruised knee.

“When I was told I would have to go to the RUH I started crying, but people were telling me how lucky we were to have survived and my fiance and dad were shocked when I rang them, as they were celebrating Wayne’s stag do,” she said.

“I haven’t been able to drive since the incident and just hope I will be able to walk down the aisle OK.”

Friend Korren Spencer, 25, of Gloucester Road, Trowbridge needed treatment for shoulder injuries.

She said: “I banged my arm on the window ledge. It was quite frightening because we all had to get out of the limo quickly but we could only use one door and there was a really strong smell of petrol.”

She was taken to hospital in the second ambulance and was told by a doctor she had suffered inflamed shoulder muscles.

Miss Raymond, who has a five-year-old daughter, Rhea-Jean, said she plans to hold another hen party after her wedding.

She met her fiance at The Consortium in Hammond Way, where they both work.

A Class Limousines, of Carlton Row in Trowbridge, who supplied the £80,000 stretch H3 Hummer, said they would have to write it off. It had four flatscreen TVs, a karaoke system, lasers, a colour change bar and mirrored ceiling.

Owner Alison Potter said: “When the driver, Steve, rang me to tell me what had happened I rushed to the scene to see if everybody was all right because a customer’s safety is so important to us.

“I also arranged a replacement limousine so that they wouldn’t be standing out in the cold and offered to take them to Bristol but they all wanted to go home.

“In the 10 years we have been running the firm this has never happened before. We are happy to provide transport for her to have a hen night at a later date.”