‘Hit & run driver’ mows down nightclub crowd
Man, 18, arrested after four hurt in 5.30am horror
SCREAMING revellers dived for safety as a car ploughed into crowds leaving a nightclub at 5.30am, injuring four people.
The vehicle is said to have collided with one woman as the driver tried to edge past the throng.
But as an angry mob surrounded it, witnesses said the blue Ford C-MAX then mounted the pavement, hitting two more women.
The driver then allegedly drove off, reversing over one of the women on the ground and hitting a fourth clubber as he did so.
A car matching the description was later found ablaze two miles away in Newport, South Wales. Video of the incident shows clubbers screaming as the hatchback rammed into them outside The Courtyard at closing time.
Men are then seen pounding on the windscreen before the car drives away.
All four of the injured were taken to hospital. Two of the women are said to have “potentially lifechanging injuries”. Club owner Iftekhar Haris said: “A person was hit and it turned into almost like a mob, who went after the vehicle and the driver. The situation got quite bad. It was horrific.”
Paul Burridge, 53, who was waiting to collect daughter Charlotte, 22, said: “There were about 100 people waiting for taxis.
“Then all hell broke loose. I saw one girl on the floor. Her friend was on top of her saying ‘Don’t look’. I thought it could be my daughter. Luckily she was waiting nearby.”
The incident happened hours before the Newport marathon and 10K races, but police said it was not linked to the run and did not appear to be terror-related. The events went ahead as planned.
An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing injury by dangerous driving.