Driver speaks of lucky escape as runaway bin truck smashes into wall

The runaway truck hurtled down Jockey Road in Sutton Coldfield, nearly hitting Jamie Babington's car and a dog walker before smashing into a garden wall.

The incident took place just before 8am on Wednesday and Jamie, from Sutton, admitted someone could have been killed.

"I was driving to work and I saw the lorry which I thought was pulling over to the side of the road," Jamie said.

"Then I realised there wasn't a driver in the vehicle and it was coming towards me.

"I went to pull into the side road but realised the lorry was veering towards the side road.

"So I quickly reversed back, into the traffic to get out of the way.

"It was get out of the way as quickly as possible."

He added: "I then looked up to see a woman walking her dog and it was heading towards her.

"I didn't see her get out of the way and thought she had been hit.

"I pulled over and dived out of my car to check but she had managed to get out of the way on the other side, thank God.

"It had missed her by a foot and it doesn't bear thinking about what could have happened.

"It was very lucky for us all to be honest. We are lucky to come out of it unscathed, barring the property damage.

"The main thing is no-one was injured or, even worse, killed.

"The whole incident was a real shock and I have seen dashcam footage since which makes you realise how close it was."

Wylde Green councillor Alex Yip called for a review of the incident, saying: "There are reports of only two bin men being on the vehicle and a resident who was there described it as ‘an accident waiting to happen’.

"I am asking the council to undertake an urgent investigation into this and commit to including me in on the findings as to what happened, responsibility, and how to ensure it does not happen again."

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: “The cause of incident is being investigated and thankfully no-one was hurt.”

West Midlands Police said: "This was a damage-only RTC."