A car has mounted the pavement in St Albans, narrowly missing several pedestrians.

Police are still at the scene after an officer reported a vehicle driving erratically along Holywell Hill at 2.47pm.

The vehicle then turned towards St Peter’s Street, and mounted the pavement by the market stalls.

It then drove the wrong way up Spencer Street.

A woman shopping in St Peter’s Street said: “All I saw was he came through where the ice-cream van is by the lights.

“He sped down here and nearly knocked half a dozen people over.

“The police must have been chasing him because straight away they were here and came after him. Children were wailing and crying and people were screaming.”

Philip Day, who lives in St Albans and was near Dave’s Tasty Bites, said: “He was obviously being chased by the police and then suddenly he was in a queue of traffic waiting at the lights and he couldn’t overtake them.

“He tried to work his way out and he reversed into a lady’s car and tried to do a three-point turn, and then he squeezed behind the ice-cream van.

“He mounted the kerb and drove past the baker’s stall and turned into a one-way street.

“The police couldn’t catch him because he was in his car. While it was happening there must have been three or four PCSOs trying to stop him by standing in front of the vehicle.”