Thieves rammed a stolen car through the gates of a Black Country park before setting it on fire.

Early morning dog-walkers in Willenhall Memorial Park today came across the charred shell of the Ford Mondeo.

Firefighters were called to the entrance off Dartmouth Avenue after nearby residents spotted the ball of fire shortly after 9pm yesterday.

Watch commander Andy Morgan said the car would need to have been travelling at some speed to have damaged the gates so badly.

“It seems like a pretty desperate thing to do,” he said.

“The gates didn’t come off, but they’ve rammed it so hard that they could squeeze underneath them.”

He added: “It didn’t take us too long to put the fire out and the owner of the car will now be contacted and their insurance company will arrange to have it removed.”

Willenhall Councillor Angela Underhill said: “We’ve spent so much money on making that park something that local people can be proud of and I know those gates were not cheap.”