Woman critical after car smash

A hospital volunteer from Staffordshire was left fighting for her life after a car ploughed into her as she sat on a bench outside a Good Hope Hospital.

The 64-year-old was in a critical condition after a red Peugeot 107 hit her and slammed into a brick wall of WHSmith at the Sutton Coldfield hospital.

Shocked patients and visitors watched in horror as medics rushed outside to help the badly injured woman, who sources say is a hospital volunteer.

The victim, from Tamworth, was taken to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital with serious injuries where she remained in a critical condition. The driver of the car, an 86-year-old woman, was treated for minor injuries after the crash yesterday.

A 56-year-old woman, from Dudley, also received minor injuries when the car hit the shop.

A hospital worker said: "The woman was a volunteer at the hospital and on her break sitting on the bench within the hospital grounds. This car has somehow mounted the kerb and hit her." Sue Moore, Good Hope Hospital's managing director, confirmed that the car had entered the front wall of the hospital's treatment centre.

She said: "The driver of the car and another person positioned near to the building at the time were injured and were quickly attended to by emergency staff at the hospital. They are both being reviewed by our medical teams."

Ambulance service spokesman Murray Macgregor said: "We had a call just after 10.05am to reports that a car had collided with a bench and a wall, which had partially collapsed.

A pedestrian who was believed to have been sitting on the bench at the time outside the WHSmith was taken from Good Hope to the Major Trauma Centre at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham."