Two-car crash knocks out telegraph pole and pub's card machines while occupants of cars leave scene

A Black Country pub was left relying on old-fashioned pens, paper and cash after a crash on a nearby road knocked out a telegraph pole - and its tills.

The crash happened on Gospel End Road in Sedgley around 11.30pm on Friday, with two cars reported to have been involved in the crash outside the Seven Stars pub.

A crew from Dudley Fire Station was called to the incident, which damaged a telegraph pole and a bus stop outside the pub, although there are no details of any injuries from the crash at present. Police said that the occupants of the vehicles had left the scene by the time officers arrived.

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Fire service said: "We had a call come through last night around 11.30pm for an RTC and an appliance from Dudley Fire Station attended.

"There were two vehicles involved in a collision and a telegraph pole and bus stop left damaged."

The Seven Stars saw an outer wall damaged and was left without access to tills and card machines on Saturday, meaning that customers were asked to pay with cash and staff were forced to use pen and paper to record sales until the tills could be reopened.

Seven Stars assistant manager Clare Moore with the sign on the till warning of no card transactions being available

The pub put messages up in the pub and a message out on social media to inform customers of the issue and to also say it hoped the people involved in the crash were okay.

The Seven Stars was left without use of its card machines the day after the crash

The message read: "All customers: due to a crash near us last night, the telecom pole that controls our tills, card machines is down.

"We can only accept cash at the moment and will be resorting to good old-fashioned pen and paper so please bear with us and we are so sorry for any inconvenience.

"We just hope that those in the crash are okay.

"Thank you for your patience and understanding."

Marston's spokesman Jeremy Eaton also echoed the sentiments of the pub managers, saying that while the technical issues were inconvenient, it paled into insignificance compared to the crash.

He said: "The real issue is the people involved in the car crash, as anything affecting us is just operational and we can get the electric issues fixed, so it's just business as normal for us."

A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: "We were contacted by fire service colleagues following a collision between two cars on Gospel End Road just before 11.40pm yesterday.

"Occupants of the vehicles were no longer at the scene when officers attended."