THE father of a hit and run victim has appealed for help in tracking down a white Ford Transit van that left his 32-year-old son with life threatening injuries. Police are hunting the driver of the vehicle after it hit John Conibeer on the A48 at Pwllmeyric Hill near Chepstow early on Saturday morning.Officers revealed yesterday that the victim had been travelling in a car which had collided with a wall shortly before 2am, and was then hit by the Ford Transit van after getting out.A Gwent Police spokeswoman said: "A black Honda Civic collided with a wall. Following the collision, we believe a second vehicle, a Ford Transit van, unrelated to the first incident, has collided with an occupant of the first incident outside of the damaged black Honda Civic. "The unidentified vehicle failed to stop at the scene, while a female from the Newport area was subsequently arrested in relation to the initial collision and has been bailed to appear at court. The identity of the vehicle and driver involved in the subsequent collision are still unknown."Meanwhile, the Newport victim’s father, Anthony Coni­beer, has pleaded with people and body shops to be on the look out for a van with front end damage. His Facebook post, which has had more than 3,000 shares, says: “My son is lying in a hospital bed. On a life support machine, damaged kidneys, liver, ribs, bowels... damage to his face, broken leg and a damaged hip, all because of you transit van driver. He pleaded: “If you know who the person is phone the police, tell them who it is. “We want our son. We want our brother. We want our Dad back home safe and well.”He added: “To the person who did this to our John, you have ripped the heart out of our family.“We will always love John. I hope to God he pulls through this.”The Gwent Police spokeswoman said they were appealing to the public for any information that may assist with identifying and locating the Ford Transit and its driver.Anyone with information is asked to call 101, quoting log 44 of February 17.A section of the A48 was closed after the accident until after 9am while police carried out investigations, causing long traffic delays in and around Chepstow.The same stretch of the A48 was the scene of a five-car pile-up as recently as 12 months ago, while a man died after a vehicle hit a wall in 2005 and a teenage girl passenger was left critically injured in a crash in 2010.

Councillors and police agreed to reduce the speed to 30mph on the Pwllmeyric stretch of the road last year, after several accidents, including fatalities.

Residents who campaigned to cut the speed limit from 40mph to 30mph said they were “taking their lives in their hands” when turning onto the road because of speeding cars.