A LARGE recovery vehicle rolled onto a busy Bournemouth pavement after its handbrake failed.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said the force was called to the incident this evening on Old Christchurch Road, outside Beales, where the lorry had been recovering a car.

“In the process its handbrake failed,” she added.

“It rolled back onto the pavement and hit bollards and a BT junction box.”

Eyewitness Daniel Chatfield, 19, described hearing a man scream at people nearby to get out of the way as the vehicle moved towards the pavement.

He added: “There was a very loud bang. It could have been a lot worse.”