Mother tells of terror as car mounted pavement pinning her against shop (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Mother's terror as car ploughs into shoppers in Thirsk

8:00am Thursday 4th October 2012 in News By Emily Flanagan, Reporter

A MOTHER has spoken of her terror after a car mounted the pavement and ploughed into women and children before pinning her against a shop.

Michelle Daggett was talking to a friend in the Market Place, in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, with her 18-month-old daughter, Lucia, in a pushchair, when a car driven by an 80-year-old woman veered across the pavement outside the Co-op store.

She said: “It hit my friend first, then it pushed me against the barriers where the trollies are.

“It kept squishing me and squishing me for what felt like ages. I thought ‘we’re all going to go through the window’, then it shot back.”

When the mother-of-five looked up she saw her daughter’s pushchair had been knocked over along with several other people. She said: “The pushchair was on the floor and two people had fallen on top of my daughter. I was hysterical. It was horrific.

“I tried to drag one of the women off her. When I lifted her up I saw she had a baby in a baby carrier. I think she was in shock, she was laid on her daughter as well as mine. She also had a four-year-old with her whose face was grazed.

“I picked my daughter up and cuddled her. Luckily she was alright. She had a bump on her head, but she was very quiet and subdued. I think she was in shock. Later in the day she had a sleep and woke up shaking.”

Mrs Daggett, who lives in Thirsk, was taken to the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, shortly after the accident, which happened at 9.15am on Friday, and given pain killers for back and leg pain.

The 34-year-old, who also has an 18-month-old twin daughter, Alicia, along with children aged ten, nine and six, was left with a badly bruised leg and needing physiotherapy.

All the people involved sustained minor injuries such as grazes and bruising. No one was detained in hospital.

Police say the driver was not arrested or charged over the accident and they are now investigating whether there was a possible mechanical fault with the car.

The incident happened yards away from where a two-year-old girl was killed in July 1996 when a car driven by a 71- year-old woman mounted the pavement, near the William Hill betting shop, and pinned the toddler against a wall.