Fire engine crashes into Moseley mobile phone shop

A firefighter attempting a three-point turn during an emergency call out crashed the truck into the front of a mobile phone shop.

The fire engine's blue lights and sirens were on when the driver veered into the front of Phone Lab, in Moseley, Birmingham, yesterday evening.

Eye-witnesses said two men sitting outside the closed shop, at the junction of Woodbridge Road and Trafalgar Road, were forced to dive for cover as the vehicle mounted the pavement at 6pm.

Police closed the road and three other fire engines were called to the scene. The fire engine was left in situ while the terraced block above the shop building was surveyed for damage before the vehicle was removed.

Pharmacist Nadeem Nazar, 28, who saw the accident, said: "I was sitting there and the fire engine was coming down, sirens on.

"It slowed down at the junction of Trafalgar Road and attempted a three-point turn. Mid-attempt it went further than expected, mounted the kerb and veered toward the shop."

Administrator Charlene Pendlebury, 26, who lives nearby, said: "It is a tight turn but that is ridiculous. They had to block the whole road off."