Guildford crash: Seven people including baby and toddler hit as vehicle ploughs into crowd

The car is believed to have been driven by an elderly man

The car crashed outside the Friary Centre in Guildford town (PA)

Seven people, including a baby and toddler, have been hit by a car in a busy shopping district in Guildford town centre.

Eyewitnesses described the victims as being "flung into the air" when the vehicle, allegedly driven by an elderly man, crashed into the crowd outside the Friary Centre, Get Surrey reported.

They said that the car "appeared from nowhere" before smashing into the group of shoppers. A one-year-old girl and a man in his 60s were airlifted to St George's hospital.

Surrey Police said that a silver VW Polo had left the road and was involved in a collision with a number of pedestrians.

Alejanero Mayol, 20, a student who lives in Guildford, told the newspaper he was standing on the other side of the road when he saw the car mounting the pavement.

"There was a loud bang and I looked up," he said. "It took out one pole and then crashed into three or four other people.

"They just flung up into the air after the car hit them."

According to reports, the car, which was travelling down North Street in Guildford at around 10.30am, lost control before hitting a bollard and colliding with the group.

A spokesman for South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) said in a statement that it had send six ambulance crews, four ambulance cars and two air ambulances to the scene.

“The casualties include a one-year old girl who has been airlifted to St Georges Hospital in Tooting and a man aged in his 60s who has also been airlifted to St George’s Hospital," they said. "A woman with leg injuries has been taken to St George’s hospital by road.

“The remaining patients have all been taken to Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford. They are a two-year-old boy and three further women all of whom are not thought to have suffered life-threatening injuries.”

Anyone who witnessed the collision or the events leading up to it should call Surrey Police Collision Investigation Unit on 01483 639922 or call 101 quoting reference P15274217.