A Wensum Street resident, who asked not to be named, said the noise of the crash was “something I can’t even describe. It was so loud. I thought at first it was someone jumping off the bridge on to pub tables underneath, but then I saw it was a police car,” she said. Thirty seconds after the crash, which tore up the paving slabs surrounding the four metal posts, a police officer can be seen getting out of the vehicle to inspect the damage.
A passer-by walks over and the two appear to talk, before the passer-by begins to pick up pieces of collision debris from the pavement. The onlooker added: “I could see that the airbags had gone off and then the policeman got out, looking quite dazed. He called for another police car, which turned up quite quickly, and a recovery truck, then May Gurney to patch up the road and the holes.” Anthea Cawdron, owner of the Ribs of Beef, whose camera captured the footage, said it was fortunate the accident had not been more serious.
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“I checked the CCTV and if it had happened a minute before, there was a car that crossed right across Magdalen Street. The police car could have gone straight into the side of it.” A spokesman for Norfolk police said: “A police car was in collision with posts on Wensum Street at around 4.45am on Tuesday, May 29. The officer was unhurt and the vehicle was recovered. This incident was reported to a senior officer immediately and the circumstances of the collision are being investigated.”
