Man in critical condition after car hits pedestrians in south London

A man remains in critical condition after five people were struck by a car in south-east London. Police, paramedics and an air ambulance were called to Bromley Road in Bellingham at 8.20am on Sunday after a Mercedes hit a wall and collided with a group of pedestrians.

Four men and a woman, aged between 25 and 46, were treated at the scene before being taken to hospital, police said.

A 25-year-old man remained in critical condition, while another man the same age and a woman of 35 who were previously critical were later said to be in a serious but stable condition. Two men aged 36 and 46 sustained minor injuries in the crash.

London ambulance service said the group were treated for head, chest and leg injuries. Police said the incident was not terror-related.

A Met spokesman said: “The driver of the car was detained at the scene by an off-duty police officer before being arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was also arrested on suspicion of drink-driving before being taken to a south London hospital with a head injury.”

The crash happened opposite a car wash outside Catford bus garage. Photographs posted online show a Mercedes that had appeared to have come off the road and ploughed into the end of a hedge. Its bonnet and boot were shown open and debris, including a bollard, was strewn across the pavement.

Raee Towolawi, 26, was on her way to church with her mother, brother and sister when they heard the sound of screaming.

“I just thought it was people messing around or fighting nearby at the car wash but my mum said no, they sound like different types of screams. I went up the road and saw all this carnage. There were two men lying flat on their backs, just lifeless or unconscious,” she said.

“There was a lady in between them who was sat upright and all the car washers were around her trying to get her to respond. They were crying and wailing over her, and she wasn’t responding. They were saying her name to try and get her to wake up, and shaking her.”

Towolawi said she saw a man with blood coming from a head injury and another uninjured man, both car washers, chasing a well-dressed black man down the road.
She said: “They were swearing, saying, ‘Why have you done this?’ I am assuming he was the one who did the damage.”

Towolawi said she believed those who were injured work and live at the car wash and that they had been waiting outside for customers when they were hit.

She and her brother went to see if they could help, but could not understand the group as they spoke little English. “They just kept saying something bad had happened and were slapping themselves and pulling their hair out. They just didn’t know what to do and were screaming and crying,” she said.

“I thought they were dead. I was just shocked and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There was a lot of blood as well. I didn’t notice the car until I came back afterwards. I just thought they’d been stabbed or shot.”

Police were appealing for witnesses to call officers on 101, or 0208 285 1574.