Police chase ends in crash

Much of the inside of the silver Mitsubishi car was torn away in the crash on Wolverhampton Road in Oldbury.

It is believed the cigarettes were stolen from robberies at a Sainsbury's store in Worcester and Tesco in Evesham this morning.

The smash created rush hour delays for scores of Black Country commuters this morning as police shut the Birchley Island at the junction of Newbury Lane and the Wolverhampton Road in both directions from Newbury Lane to Bury Hill Park.

Motorists were left queuing on the A4034 Oldbury Road for a mile back as far as Station Road in Blackheath.

Police had followed the car from the M5 at the Junction 2 roundabout in Oldbury at just before 3am today.

The Mitsubishi is then thought to have gone through a red light on the A4123 Wolverhampton Road, clipping another car and turning over, ending up with its roof embedded on waist-height steel railings. Two of the men inside the Mitsubishi were thrown out of the car while the other two were trapped inside.

Firefighters from Oldbury and West Bromwich freed two of the men and all four casualties, thought to be in their mid 20s to early 30s, were taken to hospital, one with a serious chest injury.

Crew commander Dean Yates from West Bromwich fire station said: "The vehicle had come to rest and the roof had effectively embedded itself on to the flat bar that runs across the top of the railings."

He added: "It was very, very badly damaged. A lot of the interior of the car had been torn away."

Karl Berry was one driver who had to abandon his car halfway up Newbury Lane, where it was cordoned off, on his way to work at the Little Chef on Wolverhampton Road.

The restaurant's team leader said: "All the street was totally dead round there because of all the roads being blocked off.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw it - the state of the car is horrendous, all the debris has shot out. It is as if they have gone into a rubbish bin and all the rubbish has shot everywhere all over the main road."

Police spokeswoman Sarah Astbury said officers were investigating the crash and the fact that so many packets of cigarettes were scattered on to the road.

"Prior to the collision a police car had spotted the vehicle which had been reported stolen the previous day," she said.

"It followed the vehicle from the motorway before the collision occurred."

She added that the matter would be voluntarily referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

By Louise Watt