Police on hunt for hit-and-run driver who ‘deliberately’ ploughed into fans outside Villa Park

Police are on the hunt for a hit-and-run driver who ‘deliberately’ ploughed into fans outside Villa Park on Saturday afternoon.

A Villa fan says that it was lucky that no one was seriously injured or worse died, despite suffering significant leg injuries themselves shortly after the 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

The 33-year-old victim says a large black car allegedly mounted the sidewalk and accelerated, colliding with her and others on Witton Road, near Manor Road, at around 5:15 PM on Saturday the 23rd of November.

She successfully managed to move her 85-year-old grandmother out of harm’s way, but was ultimately struck and went over the car’s hood.

She felt “shocked and shaken” after the incident, suffering ligament damage and severe bruising, and now requires a leg brace for several weeks.

West Midlands Police have since issued a statement, saying they are conducting an investigation and reviewing CCTV footage to identify the vehicle involved.

Police are hunting a hit-and-run driver after a car ploughed into fans outside Villa Park minutes after full-time yesterday.

The car allegedly mounted the pavement and accelerated, striking people on Witton Road.#AVFChttps://t.co/bKFj4pf72b

— John Townley (@johntownley11) November 24, 2024

The victim, who attended the gamr with her grandmother and niece, said to BirminghamLive: “What was meant to be a good game of football ended up with me getting hit by a car, which struck me on the side of the knee. Was coming out of Villa about to cross the road and this big black car accelerated straight into us.

“I had shoved my elderly relative out the way and went onto the bonnet. He literally went into me, drove up the pavement into other people apparently. People around me were screaming. He hit multiple people, some people tried chasing after him.

“Many witnesses helped me up, but it could have been a lot worse. It has shaken me up and scared everyone. How no-one got killed I don’t know. It was absolutely reckless driving from him. Police were made aware and this has been reported to them.”

She added: “I wasn’t walking on the road. The car had stopped letting people cross, the police know all this. If it was an accident he would have stopped. The fact he hit other people and the way he went up the pavement you don’t do that as a qualified driver, you follow the highway code.

“I’m very sensible and know about safety. I would never ever put my family in a position like that, so it was definitely deliberate. Why would you go up a pavement and speed off super quick?”

A police spokesman told BirminghamLive: “We were called to a collision involving a car and pedestrians in Witton Road, Aston, yesterday (Saturday). Thankfully no-one was seriously injured. We are investigating and carrying out CCTV inquiries to identify the vehicle.

“If you witnessed this incident and can help with our investigation, contact us via Live Chat on our website or by calling 101, quoting log 3654 of 23 November.”

A West Midlands Ambulance spokesperson confirmed on the 25th of November: “We were called by the police to reports of an RTC at the junction of Manor Road and Witton Road, Aston at 5.32pm on Saturday 23rd November. One ambulance attended the scene but no patient was found.”

Twitter users gave their reaction with police on the hunt for the hit-and-run driver who ‘deliberately’ ploughed into fans outside Villa Park…

@footballlover63: Surely this has to be on a camera somewhere either cctv or dash cam. Let’s hope they get caught & brought to justice. Hope everyone involved is ok.🙏

@jackluckhurst16: From now on, I want the police closing every road around Villa Park for the first 3 hours before kickoff! and the first hour or two after kickoff so people are safe. Sorry for my rant, but I’m so angry that this has happened, when it’s so avoidable! This vile prat is a disgrace! I still can’t believe someone didn’t grab this little c*nt, and floor him to the ground. We don’t need vermin like this in the world. I thought the roads around Villa Park were meant to be closed to stop moronic scumbags doing hit and runs and shit like this! Hopefully the twat gets punished, and gets a job doing something productive, rather than being slobbish with his pathetic little life!

@michaelwesty: What a scumbag I hope they find them and I hope that everyone involved is ok UTMV

@gazapearce: Hoping everyone injured recovers quickly and WM Police catch the offending driver. From description of incident it sounds very fortunate the injuries were not more serious

@Dazzamiller: Saw the aftermath of this as the black car was being chased across the roundabout by other pedestrians. Can’t believe there wasn’t any police vehicles about to stop them leaving the area.

@PHall11275: Good luck with that I got hit 16 weeks ago by a hit and run driver police done nothing waste of time

@ptavfc1: With ALL the cctv and drones the old bill can’t find the car and driver @WMPolice

@youweazel: I think there’s a problem with this at villa park, there’s a few roads closed near the ground after the FT whistle amd cars especially taxis ignore the road closed signs and diversion and still go through there barging people out the way

@ScottFarrell_: Saw a hit and run a couple of years ago by Aston Tavern before Sheff Utd game. Few of us stopped the car, police protected the driver. After the game on Saturday saw 2 pricks jump out of a car & throw punches on Queens Rd because people were in the road in front of their car.

@avfc3093: They can’t drive for shit around there probably haven’t got licenses !

@LaurenAVFC: Hopefully there will be some CCTV that identifies this scumbag

@PhilKeenan11: Hoping someone gets hold of this little cunt before the police do…

@AdamHEEL: Hey @WMPVillaFC, how did no officer see this, they literally drove a 24 plate range through a crowd towards the police vans on the island, with a crowd chasing them?

@avfcbreaking: Deliberately drove at Villa fans… Kinda of asking why counter terrorism are not looking into this considering this is a modus operandi of using cars to target pedestrians! #AVFC

@elliexgaskin: This is terrifying omg, I know how busy it gets down there this is the way I walk from Villa Park myself with my mom & friends, if I was at the game yesterday we would have been there at that time. I hope all those involved recover 😔