Policeman hurt in collision with taxi

A policeman was taken to hospital today after his patrol car was in collision with a taxi in Wolverhampton.

The smash was part of a horrific weekend on the region’s roads which saw two people die and others seriously injured.

The collision took place at 11.15am on the A41 Bilston Road at the corner of Steelhouse Lane.

The front bumper of the patrol car was ripped off as a result and it ploughed into a set of railings. Eyewitnesses said the taxi ended up in the middle of the road in bits. Ambulance Service spokeswoman Susie Fothergill said three people, believed to include the policeman and taxi driver, were taken to New Cross Hospital with minor injuries.

In another crash in the city, an elderly driver lost control of his car and smashed into the front of a house in Tettenhall Road, Wolverhampton, just before 2.30pm yesterday. He escaped without serious injury.

Other accidents over the weekend saw a Fiat people carrier career off the road in High Street, Walsall Wood, at 11.20am yesterday. The driver, thought to have been in his 60s, died at the scene. The car smashed through railings and plunged down an embankment, coming to a stop in the car park of St John’s Medical Centre.

Watch commander Andrew Dickson, of Aldridge fire station, said: “It’s a miracle that no one else was hurt.”

In another smash, a 45-year-old motorcyclist had to be airlifted to Selly Oak Hospital following a collision with a 4×4 on the outskirts of Clows Top, near Kidderminster. The collision happened on the A456 at 5pm yesterday.

And a man was airlifted to hospital after smashing into a tree while mountain biking near Kinver. Paramedics were called to Bunkers Hill Wood at 10.45am yesterday.