Two young children, including a baby, are among seven injured when a car ploughed into pedestrians at a Christmas market.
Police and South Western Ambulance Service responded to the collision in the centre of Chipping Sodbury near Bristol.
The incident is believed to have happened around lunchtime on Sunday when a driver, a man in his 80s, tried to manoeuvre out of a parking space on the town’s high street in south Gloucestershire.
Avon and Somerset Police said that the people were hit at “low-speed”. The youngsters were taken to hospital and the adults assessed at the scene.
Esra Ward, who is running a pizza stall at the market, told the BBC: “We were just talking with the customers in front of our van.
“The car was parked, and suddenly we saw him accelerate coming out of his parking space and hit a couple of people.
“There was a mum with a baby in a pushchair in front of the car.
“Apparently at the back he has hit a few more people, a family. They had ambulances and police and fire all here in about five minutes.”
Market stall holder Ady Jones said he felt “shaken” after seeing the car “career” off the pavement, adding: “There was a loud screech. There was lots of shouting and clearly people had been injured.
“The stalls had to close for quite a while, but thankfully people were not seriously injured.
“The situation could have been far worse.”
A force spokesman added: “Emergency services have attended the scene of a collision on Chipping Sodbury High Street.
“Police were called at midday on Sunday, December 1 to a report of a car in a collision with pedestrians while manoeuvring out of a parking space.
“The driver – believed to be a man in his eighties – and seven pedestrians including five adults and two children were assessed by ambulance crew at the scene.
“We’d like to reassure people that despite the large emergency response no one is currently described as having either life-threatening or life-changing injuries.”
He added: “Two young children, including a baby, have gone to hospital.”
An air ambulance, five paramedic crews and several other resources were dispatched to the market town, which is around 18 miles north east of Bristol.
Organisers of the event said in a post on their Facebook page: “As many of you are aware there has been an incident at the top of the High Street.
“We have been advised by the police not to cancel today’s event so the remainder of the High Street from Hobbs House Bakery down towards Broad Street and Horse Street is still open.
“We would ask anyone attending today to please not take photos of the incident, and not speculate on social media as we work the emergency services to help those people who need assistance.”
