Video: CCTV footage shows runaway limousine smash through Burnley College gates (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Video: CCTV footage shows runaway limousine smash through Burnley College gates

11:44am Thursday 28th February 2013 in News

DRAMATIC footage showing a limousine – believed to have been used on hit TV show Shameless – crashing through the gates of Burnley College has been released.

The film, captured by the college’s CCTV cameras, shows the pink Lincoln Town car knocking the gates off their hinges, driving through the car park before crashing into a fence on the football pitch.

ABOVE: The incident was caught on camera and broadcast on YouTube

Police said the driver lost control when the vehicle’s brakes failed and he had to take evasive action.

He took a sharp bend from Active Way into Caldervale Road, outside Homebase, crossing on to the opposide side of the road, before hitting the locked gates.

The car, which is privately owned by a man from Warrington who works in Burnley, is believed to have been used by character Mickey Maguire in Shameless, written by Burnley-born Paul Abbott.

The footage has had more than 1,000 hits on YouTube since it was uploaded on February 15.

PC Neil Goodison said that the incident at 5.30pm on February 12 could have been more serious.

He said: “The brakes of the limo had failed and the accelerator stuck as the man had been travelling down West Way. He decided to turn left onto Caldervale Road to try and cause the least danger to other people.

“He had gone across to the other side of the road as he turned the corner but managed to straighten out and smashed through the college fire gates which were locked, and knocked them completely off.

“The car eventually came to a stop as he drove the car into the astro-turf and crashed into the perimeter.

“It was extremely lucky that no-one was hurt. The pitch is usually used for matches at that time of day. Thankfully no-one was there that day.

“The front bonnet of the car was smashed in but the driver wasn’t hurt, though he was a bit shocked.”

A spokesman from Burnley College said: “A lot of people have been talking about the incident so we thought we would make a short film with the footage for people to see what happened.

“As far as we are aware the limo is the one used in Shameless.

“Even though the incident did cause quite a lot of damage no-one was hurt. It is lucky it didn’t happened half an hour earlier as a lot of students and staff would have been leaving college at that time.”