CUSTOMERS in a Worcester pub had a lucky escape when a runaway lorry ploughed down a hill and stopped inches from where they were sitting.

Two regulars were sitting in the window of The Crown Inn, Kempsey, when the MJS Transport lorry rolled down the main A38 road through the village, crashing into barriers outside.

Gareth Price was looking through the window when he saw the vehicle, carrying cement powder, heading straight for them.

"I saw it about five seconds before it reached the pub," said the 29-year-old, of The Limes in Kempsey, who said the vehicle had been parked at a building site further up the road.

"It was very, very loud.

"The driver wasn't with the truck and the doors were locked. I looked underneath it to make sure nobody was trapped and called the police."

Mr Price said he thought the metal railings, flattened by the impact, could have saved the customers.

"I think it would have gone into the pub if the railings hadn't have been there," he added.

"A lot of people whinge about them because they are ugly, but they certainly did their job today."

Bar manager Albert Baker, aged 70, said: "I was just stood here serving customers and heard this clatter. A couple of customers ran towards me and the next thing I saw was the lorry coming towards the pub."

Mr Baker said that accident had happened at about 4pm, when the area would normally have been packed with youngsters leaving Kempsey Primary School.

"It's closed today, but it could have been a lot worse," he added.

Alan Hanson, who lives opposite the site and took the picture on the front page, said: "I heard this bang and ran out.

"It smashed through the railings and stopped inches from the pub. Only an inch or two and it would have been in the pub."

Darren Gollins, of MJS Transport, Staffordshire, said the driver had assured him the handbrake was on at the time of the accident.

"We think it's a fault on the vehicle and until we get an engineer's report we won't know," he said.

No one from West Mercia police was available for comment.