Tom HallA charity ‘car cruise’ event has come under fire following a ‘horrific’ collision injuring seventeen people.
Two vehicles collided on Monkswood Way, Stevenage, last night leaving two seriously injured and 15 more hurt, the BBC reports.
Video footage shows one car passing another before the two collide and one strikes people standing at the roadside while the other hits spectators in the central reservation.
One organiser described the crash as “horrific” and a “nightmare”. Police have asked witnesses to send footage of the crash to detectives.
Video footage shows one car passing another before the two collide and one strikes people standing at the roadside while the other hits spectators in the central reservation.
The East of England Ambulance Service said some of the people had been seriously hurt.
Ch Insp Alicia Shaw said: “We weren’t aware of this event taking place and we weren’t aware of such large numbers attending the Stevenage area.”
She added that officers had previously attended events and handed out warnings or seized cars when they were being driven in a dangerous manner.
Cruise-Herts planned the event on Thursday where people were due to gather to look at modified cars.
Organiser Rix Sidhu said he had been organising similar meets for 17 years and the latest was held to raise money for charity.
“We held the meet in a car park with a speed bump at the entrance. But unfortunately some people went a bit rogue. We try and stop that, we urge people…not to go out on the roads, not to risk injury or anything.
“But unfortunately, in this age of social media and Snapchat, people want to get footage and post things to their friends, which seems to drive some people to the main road.”
In a statement on Facebook he said they would not be organising any more such events.
Fellow organiser Dean Summerbee, 34, said people attending had been warned not to race or do wheel spins and burnouts.
He said: “It was horrific seeing it last night. It still plays over in my head in slow motion. I literally had to pull my mate out of the way. My thoughts go out to everyone who has been hurt. It’s not something I’d like to relive again. I feel sorry for anyone who witnessed it. It was a nightmare last night.”
Stevenage Borough Council leader Sharon Taylor said such events were unauthorised and hard to regulate. “We will do whatever we can to make sure we don’t get dreadful incidents like this. [But] it’s not an easy thing to regulate,” he added.