A driver and his passenger were seriously hurt when their car overturned and smashed into a row of parked cars.

Witnesses said they heard a car skidding seconds before a loud bang as the black BMW ploughed into five cars on Brighton seafront last night.

Wreckage and shattered glass was scattered across the road opposite the Ramada Jarvis hotel as the car came to rest on its roof near Bedford Square.

Both men in the car managed to crawl free before the emergency services arrived shortly after 8pm.

Both are said to have serious but not life-threatening injuries and were taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Hussam Al Badin, 31, of Embassy Court, Brighton, said his grey Peugeot 405 was one of the vehicles hit and he could not drive to his job as deputy night manager at a service station in Pease Pottage.

He said: "I'd only just got up - I sleep during the day as I work at night.

"I heard really loud braking and then the smash. It was so loud. I saw loads of people running away. I knew my car was near there so I rushed down straight away in my pyjamas.

"The engine was smashed in. It looked like the BMW hit a red car which crashed on top of my car, then mine hit a BMW in front and so on.

"It's a real nightmare but it was lucky no one was coming the other way and that the road wasn't busy when it happened."

Amor Jones, 41, a trade union officer from Hove, was at a restaurant on the seafront with her husband and six-year-old son and returned to find their red Ford Escort damaged.

Mrs Jones said: "We could see the lights of an ambulance and police cars from where we were eating and thought there must have been a bad accident.

"It's good the car didn't hit oncoming traffic but it's awful to hear the driver and his passenger were injured."

A blue Renault Clio, a silver BMW and a red Ford Mondeo were also damaged.

Sergeant Marcus Stuart, of the Hove Road Policing Department, said: "It was a very serious crash and we would like anyone who witnessed it to come forward."

The seafront was closed until midnight from the bottom of West Street to the crash scene while tow trucks came to remove the damage vehicles.

Anyone with information can call police on 0845 6070999.

Two pedestrians are in hospital with multiple fractures after a car veered onto a pavement and ploughed into them.

A grey Ford Sierra Cosworth hit the pedestrians as they were walking in Lewes Road, outside Brighton University's Cockroft Building, at 10.35am yesterday.

A 32-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man were taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital. The 35-year-old driver was released from hospital.