A WOMAN in her 80s died after being crushed under the wheels of a refuse lorry in Wimborne Square on Thursday lunchtime.

More than a dozen emergency vehicles were at the scene and police officers taped off the whole of the Square, barring vehicles and pedestrians for several hours, with diversions put in place.

Two young teenage girls witnessed the tragedy and were taken to the nearby Red Cross charity shop where they were interviewed by police and comforted by store volunteers while waiting for their parents to collect them.

It is believed that the woman, with the aid of a walking stick, was attempting to cross the road near to Woolworth's and the King's Head Hotel.

Another witness said that they heard a nearby bus driver hoot his horn just moments before the collision took place.

Crowds of shocked passers-by and traders stood watching as police dealt with the incident and forensic experts began their investigation.

The driver and co-driver of the truck sat shocked and dazed in a nearby police car.

Fire crews from Poole, Wimborne and Blandford were also at the scene.

"We can confirm that she is an elderly Wimborne lady pedestrian who came into contact with a slow moving dustbin truck," said a police spokesman at the scene.

"We have established her identity and are now in the process of contacting her next of kin."

Barry Walton, press spokesman for Biffa Waste Services, said: "This is a tragic and deeply regrettable incident and our thoughts are with the friends and family of the deceased at this difficult time.

"We are doing everything we can to investigate this terrible event and are assisting the road policing unit with their enquiries."

The town's mayor, Cllr Anthony Oliver, said: "I fear it was an accident waiting to happen because of the conglomeration we have of buses, lorries, cars and everything else using the Square.

"This now calls for a radical rethink of the Square and traffic movement because at the moment it is like a roundabout, causing conflict between traffic and pedestrians."

He believed it was the first time a fatality of the kind had happened in the Square.