‘Lucky no one was hurt’: Car crashes into primary school at junction parents complained about

Parents with children at a primary school have said it is “lucky no one was hurt”, as a car crashed through its fence and landed in the playground out of school hours.

In the early hours of Boxing Day, a car hurtled through the fence of the Judith Kerr primary school in Half Moon Lane, Dulwich, before crashing to a stop in a play area that is usually populated with children during term time.

The Met confirmed there were no injuries and that a 27-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of drunk driving and criminal damage.

Celeste Hicks, of Herne Hill Road, who has two children who attend the school, said she had been asking Southwark council and the Met for safer road measures to be implemented at the junction of Half Moon Lane and Beckwith Road for more than four years.

“It’s really shocking to see it’s gone up the pavement through the bollards where we have a crossing that my children use every morning,” said Ms Hicks. “We’ve been saying to the council for ages that we think this crossing’s in quite a dangerous place. 

“When you’re like ‘oh God, that’s exactly where it happened’, that was quite shocking. And obviously to see a car on the school grounds and the kids play right there, basically smashing the fence into a tree where I know my kids play in playtime. It’s a rude awakening or reminder of how vulnerable the kids can be.

“It’s lucky it was Christmas and no one was hurt.”

Ms Hicks said the tree next to the fence is used by school kids all the time and it was “amazing” that it was not knocked down during the crash.

“The kids climb that tree all the time,” she said. “And the car must have gone through that tree. There’s multiple levels of where something worse could have happened.”

Ms Hicks said parents were frustrated in a WhatsApp group that they had raised the safety of the junction so many times and nothing had been done.

“We’ve raised it so many times with the council,” she said. “We’ve sent them reports of kids crossing on scooters, even with the lollipop lady on that junction, and cars have not realised that there’s a crossing point there. They come flying around the corner and nearly knock kids off their bikes and scooters.

“It’s just circumstance that it happened at a time where there wasn’t anybody around. There’s not a better demonstration of how badly that people take that junction.”

A spokeswoman from Southwark council said: “We were made aware of this and it must have been a shock for local people, I’m very glad nobody was seriously hurt. We are looking into it urgently.”

A Met spokesman said: “Police were called at 1:37am on December 26 after a car was driven through a fence into school grounds in Half Moon Lane.

“A 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and criminal damage. No reports of any injuries.”

Judith Kerr primary school has been contacted for comment.

Pictured top: The car crashed through the fence and landed in the playground of Judith Kerr primary school (Picture: Dulwich Roads)