INVESTIGATIONS WERE under way today into the cause of a crash in which a car ploughed into a crowded market in Shropshire and left 14 people needing hospital treatment.
Police are trying to discover exactly how the driver came to career into the market in Bridgnorth seconds after reversing out of a nearby parking space.
The smash happened underneath the town hall at noon yesterday. Police said the three most serious casualties, including a woman in her 70s who suffered a heart attack on witnessing the mayhem, were in a stable condition in the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.
Sightseer Tim Harness, from Twickenham, said: “It was like being in an episode of Casualty.”
Cancelled
The usual weekend market has been cancelled while investigations continue but the rest of the stalls will be open as usual.
West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman Chris Kowalik said the driver and passenger from the car, a man and a woman both in their 70s, were uninjured but visibly shaken.
They, along with a male pedestrian in his 60s were taken to Bridgnorth Hospital for assessment and treatment. Mr Kowalik said: “One pedestrian, a woman in her 70s, went into cardiac arrest after reportedly witnessing the crash.”
He said another woman in her 70s was taken to the Princess Royal with a broken leg, along with a man and woman in their sixties who suffered head injuries.
Two other people with minor injuries were taken to the same hospital. A husband and wife were treated on scene for knee and facial injuries and taken to Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley.
A woman in her 50s and a couple in their 50s also suffered minor injuries and were taken to New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton.
Insp Gurjit Singh of West Mercia Police said today that only two men were believed to still be in hospital and both were in a stable condition at the Princess Royal.
He said police wanted to thank people who had helped out tending to the casualties along with the emergency services.