Motorist badly hurt in crash

A Walsall man suffered critical injuries in a collision as he reversed from his drive onto a busy road.

Two air ambulances were scrambled to Broadway West, near Lord Street. The road closure caused tailbacks around the town centre.

The driver of a Citroen Saxo, a 19-year-old man, was airlifted to hospital with head and chest injuries, and a man in a silver Ford Mondeo, thought to be about 30, suffered a minor cut to his head. It is thought the passing Mondeo collided with the Saxo as its driver reversed into the road from his drive.

The incident, which happened at 1pm yesterday, came almost a year to the day after a newsagent was killed in a hit-and-run accident in almost the same spot.

Musharraf Surti died in an accident in Broadway West on March 10 last year.

Today, police launched an appeal for witnesses to yesterday's accident and said the man was still in a critical condition today at Selley Oak Hospital.

The crash happened yards from the home of 38-year-old grandmother Tracey Read, who alerted emergency services.

"I was just seeing my granddaughter off at the door as it happened, and I collapsed on the stairs with shock at first," she said.

"The man in the Saxo was just reversing from his drive but he was very badly injured."

Her brother, 40-year-old Kevin Read, said he rushed to help the stricken driver.

"He was in a really bad way," he said. "I had to rip the door of his car off to try and help him."

Neighbours and passers-by watched as the Saxo driver was flown from Pleck Park to Selly Oak Hospital.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman Murray MacGregor said a non-emergency ambulance crew had come across the smash by coincidence.

"The driver of one vehicle had suffered very serious head and chest injuries," he said.

"The doctor on the aircraft anaesthetised him before he was airlifted."

Any witnesses are urged to contact the road policing unit at Walsall police station on 0845 1135000.