'Like something out of Final Destination': Woman's lucky escape as runaway tyre wrecks car

Katie Potter, 37, from Shrewsbury, was driving to work on Thursday morning when she was faced with the wheel bouncing down the road towards her "like something out of Final Destination".

She was driving on the A5124 in Shrewsbury from the Battlefield Roundabout, westbound towards the Enterprise Roundabout, at around 8.35am when the wheel smashed into the front of her car.

The giant wheel has caused major damage to her red Honda Civic – with her insurance company telling her to expect it to be written off.

Fortunately the wheel did not bounce any higher, with it being a matter of inches from going through the windscreen with potentially devastating consequences.

Katie said she thinks the wheel came off the back of a lorry transporting tyres when it braked while travelling towards her.

But, the person responsible did not stop and now Katie is appealing for anyone with information or dashcam footage to get in touch.

She explained how she had been faced with the wheel careering towards her but could do nothing to avoid it.

"I was just going to work on that road and I was on the phone to my partner on hands free and I just said 'Oh my god there's a wheel coming towards me' and saw this huge lorry wheel bouncing down the road," she said.

"I was thinking 'My god, this is going to hit me'. I had maybe a second or two to react and luckily it didn't bounce in front of me and it hit the grill.

"It was going some speed, I saw it maybe 200 yards ahead of me and it was like thundering down the road at me."

Katie said she was extremely fortunate not to be seriously injured in the incident.

She said: "If it had bounced and hit my windscreen I could have been a goner. Luckily it hit the car and bounced off to the side of the road."

The force of the impact can be seen in the pictures, with the wheel leaving the print of its tread in the bonnet.

Katie said she thinks the driver of the lorry would have seen the wheel come off, as she thinks it was thrown forwards from his vehicle when he braked while travelling towards her.

She sad: "The person whose truck it came off would have seen it because it bounced in front of them, but they never stopped, they just carried on."

Katie was given a lift home an hour later by her boss and said they had seen the wheel had been removed from the side of the road.

Because she does not have the details of the person responsible she is facing the prospect of the costly claim coming off her own insurance.

One woman had stopped and said she had dashcam footage and took Katie's number, but due to the shock of the incident she forgot to ask for the lady's details.

She is now asking anyone with information or dashcam footage to get in touch.

"I was all over the place, I just didn't even think about taking her number. I was really shaky," she said.

Anyone with information can contact Katie on katie_davies@sky.com