Car ploughs into schoolchildren

The group were standing outside a school in Leek

A car has ploughed into a group of schoolchildren outside a Staffordshire school injuring two 14-year-old girls.

Staffordshire Police said two cars collided near Westwood High School in Leek on Monday lunchtime and one of the cars then hit the group of teenagers.

One teenager was airlifted to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Stoke-on-Trent with suspected head and hip injuries.

The other was taken to the same hospital with a suspected broken leg.

'Crossing road'

Their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Police said the crash happened at about 1245 BST on Valley Drive at the junction of Westwood Park Avenue and involved a Fiat Punto and a Ford Escort.

The Punto had been travelling along Westwood Park Avenue towards Oakwood Road when it was involved in a collision with the Escort which was pulling out onto the road.

A police spokesperson said: "The Punto collided with a group of schoolchildren who were crossing the road.

"Two 14-year-old girls were taken to hospital and a third girl, who was 15, suffered minor injuries to her ankle. She was treated at the scene by paramedics.

"Both the male driver of the Punto and the female driver of the Escort, who were from Leek, were not injured."

An eye-witness told BBC Radio Stoke that a number of children looked badly shaken after the incident.

Police are now appealing for witnesses to come forward.