Car ends up in high street hole after smashing through Cradley Heath roadworks

Emergency services arrived to find the abandoned car left in a hole in the road but no driver to be seen.

The dark blue Audi had to be winched by a recovery truck out of the road, where it lay on top of a gas main, in Cradley Heath.

High Street had been dug up as part of ongoing gas works in the road which have caused some consternation.

But rather than shopkeepers complaining over the impact of the works on their trade yesterday, many were simply left in bewilderment by what had happened.

The occupants of the car had fled the scene, close to the Tesco Extra supermarket, before police officers arrived on Saturday at around 11.30pm.

Theresa Fields, who runs The Walk-in Wardrobe on High Street, said: "I suppose it puts us on the map again.

"Cradley Heath is a forgotten place, it has been left – many shops come in and try pick up the trade, but its difficult.

"Then you get this. I mean, it is amazing – I just can't work out how they've done that.

"It'll certainly cause a stir."

The shopkeeper, who has run the shop for two years, said many motorists turn round at the part of the road where the crash happened.

But she added: "I think in this case, it was probably just an idiot."

Asid Iqbal, owner of of Cradley Heath Newsagents, said: "I had lots of customers showing me the pictures and talking about the car. It's all they wanted to talk about.

"It was a shock.

"We think there were two lads in the car when it crashed and they might have been drunk.

"It's lucky they weren't seriously hurt with the gas mains being there. It could have been much more serious."

Angela Gelencser is founder of Wild Acre Rescue, which has a charity shop on the High Street, close to the incident.

The charity has been running seven years. It depends on the shop to raise around £12,000 a month for veterinary bills.

She had her own theory about the car. She said: "This doesn't look like a crash to me. Someone has moved the barriers and pushed the car in the hole. We get a lot of idiots, I'm afraid."

She added: "When I first saw it, I was amused. My thoughts are this was not an accident."

Haden Cross Fire Station said there had been no gas leaks and that the gas company would be making the barriers secure again.

The station tweeted about the incident, including the hashtag #worstparkingever.

The force tweeted: "Not the usual RTC.

"This vehicle crashed through roadworks onto a major gas main. No leaks and car made safe. Driver had left the scene.

"We've have now left the scene at Cradley High Street. Gas company will be making fencing secure again."

A West Midlands Police spokesman added: "Police were called to High Street, Cradley Heath, at just before 11.25pm last night to reports of a car hitting road barriers.

"The vehicle had been abandoned when officers arrived."

Ms Gelencser said the gas works on the road by National Grid had caused more disruption than first thought.

Last week, shops Brewmonkey Homebrew and Cards R Us also hit out at the organisation for the work.

National Grid said it had kept businesses 'fully informed and updated', and had returned to complete a final phase of a gas mains replacement on February 13.

The work is now due to finish on March 31, according to Sandwell Council.

In a statement, National Grid said: "We would like to thank people for their patience during these essential works."

There had been additional confusion as a sign stated the works would last four weeks, whereas the leaflet said eight.