Headteacher at Beatrix Potter primary school praises those who helped after car mounted pavement and ploughed into young children and parents

The headteacher of a primary school where a number of pupils and parents were hit by a rogue car has praised those who were on the scene to help.

On Tuesday at around 3pm, when parents were picking up their children from the Beatrix Potter primary school in Magdalen Road, Wandsworth, a car mounted the pavement and ploughed into a group of children and adults.

Nine of those injured, four adults and five children who were aged either seven or eight, were taken to hospital.

Two of the children had serious injuries. One child with a head injury is still in a serious but stable condition.

The other seriously injured child, who had a leg injury, is now stable and recovering.

The headteacher, Steph Neale, has since offered words of praise and thanks to those who helped.

He said: “On behalf of Beatrix Potter I would like to thank all the services involved, whose prompt action was magnificent.

“Chris, a neighbour to the school who tended an injured mum. To the two Thames Water board employees who appeared with a bar to lift up fencing off an injured mum. To my parents and staff who rallied around a difficult situation.

“All of us only have our focus on our injured children and the driver who is obviously in shock.

“We are dealing with families who were at the scene over the next few days offering comfort and support.

“We have a strong community who have always supported each other in times of difficulty. Our thoughts and prayers are now with our injured families.”

The driver of the car stopped at the scene and neither they, nor the two children also in the car, were injured.

A tree and roadside furniture were also struck during the incident, which required a large presence of emergency services.

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We were called at 3.11pm (on Tuesday) to reports of a road traffic incident in Openview, Earlsfield.

“We dispatched a number of resources including ambulance crews, an advanced paramedic, medics in response cars and our hazardous area response teams (HART). We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance.

“We treated 11 patients including seven children. We took four adults and five children to hospital while two children were discharged at the scene.”

An investigation is being led by detectives from the Met’s Serious Collison Investigation Unit.

No arrests have been made and enquiries continue.

The investigation is being led by detectives from the Met’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit.

Any witnesses or anyone with any information, particularly if they have any dash cam footage, is asked to call police on 020 8543 5157 or contact via Twitter @MetCC. Please quote CAD 4479/08SEP.

To give information anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online here.

Pictured top: Beatrix Potter primary school