Eighth car written off in Walsall hit-and-run smash

An Alfa Romeo ploughed into a Peugeot 206 in Coalpool Lane, Coalpool, Walsall in the early hours.

The owner of the Peugeot, mother-of-three Sue Corley, today told how it was the eighth car of hers which has been written off in smashes on the road, as she revealed the problem was forcing her to leave the area.

In the latest crash at 5.30am on Saturday, debris was left strewn over the road and the Alfa Romeo was abandoned with its bonnet a mangled mess of metal while the Peugeot ended up in a hedge. Police are hunting the driver.

Firefighters from Bloxwich (@bloxwichfire) took to Twitter to show photos of the aftermath

Ms Corley said eight of her cars had been written off while parked on the roadside.

Ms Corley, a 44-year-old trainee nurse, who has lived in Coalpool Lane for more than 20 years, discovered the wreckage after she heard a noise early on Saturday morning and went to investigate.

She said: "I sleep in the back room because I can't stand the near misses.

"I'm moving in two months because I can't take it anymore. It feels like it's every day. You wake up to see flashing lights. It's horrid. My insurance is going through the roof. People normally don't see this number of crashes in a lifetime.

"I heard a noise, looked out my window and that's when I saw it all.

"I just thought 'oh no, not again'."

Firefighters said they were amazed anyone could walk away from the latest crash.

Watch commander Tim Middleton said: "The cars were so badly damaged that the person driving the car must have been sore. We had a quick look around the local area to check someone hadn't stumbled away and then collapsed somewhere.

"A back seat in the Peugeot was literally a couple of inches from the front seat, so anyone sitting in that would have been killed."

Fire crews made the vehicles safe and left the scene after about an hour.

West Midlands Police spokeswoman Deb Edmonds said: "No arrests have been made and we are not aware of anyone being admitted to hospital with injuries."

It was the third Peugeot 206 Ms Corley has had written off.

Another one was taken off the road after a crash in August last year and another one five years before that.

A Polo, Vectra and Audi are among the other cars that have been badly damaged. Her father's Citroen Saxo was also smashed in August last year.

Father-of-three Anthony Halls, a 49-year-old carpet fitter, said two of his vans have been written off while parked outside. He said his boss's van was also written off when he dropped him off at his home in 2005.

"It's the bend - it's so sudden and if you're going too fast you don't see it coming," he said.

"The police must be sick of coming out here."

Another Coalpool Lane resident, grandmother-of-five Doreen Cooper, said: "It is beyond a joke."

There have also been a number of deaths in the road. Robert Kenderdine, aged 22, died after his car smashed head-on into a bus in Coalpool Lane back in 2000.

Kerry O'Neill, aged 16 and from Leamore, was killed when the driver of a car she was in lost control in the road in the 1990s.