CCTV cameras captured the dramatic moment three cars collided as one sped away from police.

Two of the vehicles hurtled along a pavement where a woman had been walking seconds earlier before crashing into a parked car.

The terrifying accident was recorded on cameras at BHVape in Charminster Road, Bournemouth where owners and staff said it was a miracle no one was killed.

Jazz Field told the Daily Echo: "A woman was there just a few seconds earlier. She is lucky to be alive."

Lloyd Pierson told how he helped the driver of one of the vehicles to safety. He said he thought the man, a taxi driver, had suffered a broken leg.

The driver of the parked vehicle has also spoken out following the crash, which took place just after 9am yesterday.

She said: "I had parked my car and was just getting out when I heard police sirens.

"As I looked up I saw a car crash into a taxi and then they were both skidding towards my car."

The woman, who does not want to be named, said she took the split-second decision to jump back into her vehicle in case it was pushed into her.

And she added: "I didn't have time to put my seatbelt back on so I hit my head on the steering wheel and then my head was forced back, giving me neck injuries."

The woman was about the go into a shop when the drama unfolded.

She told the Daily Echo: "The police were clearly chasing the car which is a dangerous thing to do in a busy street on a Saturday morning.

"It was lucky that no one was killed or seriously hurt."

A spokesman for Dorset Police said officers in a marked police car had spotted an alleged stolen vehicle, a grey Vauxhall Insignia, travelling along Holdenhurst Road in Bournemouth.

The police car followed the vehicle along Wellington Road, Beechey Road and Charminster Road before requesting for it to stop. It then made off.

A short time later the Vauxhall was in collision with a silver Skoda Octavia taxi, near to the junction with St Albans Crescent.

The woman, who was in a blue VW Passat, said there were two people in the Insignia, one of whom fled the scene.

Police said an 18-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle and is assisting officers with inquiries. A second occupant of the vehicle remains outstanding.

The drivers of the taxi and the VW Passat sustained minor injuries and attended hospital as a precaution.

Inquiries into the incident are continuing.