Car ploughs into Birmingham school playground

Sep 19 2008 Catherine Lillington and Paul Suart

A CAR smashed through a Birmingham school fence and into a playground where children had been playing just moments before.

The Peugeot ploughed about 60ft into the playground at Somerville Primary School, Small Heath, shortly after 3pm yesterday.

A man climbed out and ran away from stunned parents arriving to collect their children.

Pupils were inside the school at the time, but had been out during their playtime ten minutes earlier.

Watch commander Mark Phillips, of Hay Mills fire station, said witnesses saw the car swerve before mounting the kerb.

It then went through the metal grill fence, which is about 10ft high and knocked down a basketball pole.

Mr Phillips said: “If this had happened ten minutes either way, somebody could have been seriously injured.

“Ten minutes before, the children were all on the playground, so they had a very lucky escape.

“Eye witnesses at the scene reported the car swerving around a vehicle about to park in a space.

“It went up into the space where the car was going to park and went straight through the fence.

“It knocked down the lower half of that fence.

“A search was carried out but there was no sign of the driver who was seen running off. If they had any injuries they would have been minor.”

A police spokesman said they were trying to trace the driver who fled the scene. They were unable to say whether the car was stolen.

Anyone with information is urged to call police on 0845 113 5000.