A CHILD narrowly escaped serious injury when a runaway car careered down a busy street.

The drama happened as Chay West, 14, was walking to Brighton Station with her friend after watching How To Train Your Dragon at the Odeon Cinema on Sunday evening.

The girls were near the Clock Tower when they suddenly saw a car careering down Queen’s Road towards them.

The vehicle was just inches away from them when they managed to leap out of its path.

The car, which had no one in it, crashed into railings outside Itsu Japanese restaurant, opposite Boots.

Chay, who lives near Hove Park, said: “I was so shocked when I saw the car.

“At first I thought it was just someone who wasn’t good at driving and the person was zooming down the road.

“Then, when it didn’t stop and continued to go down the road, I thought something awful was going to happen. There was no one in the car, I saw the driver’s door was slightly open though.

“The car hit another car, and veered on to the other side of the road and hit a set of traffic lights and then a building that was already boarded up.

“When the car was veering towards the traffic lights, about 30 people quickly moved away in case they got hit.

“There were security guards coming out of some shops to check what happened.

“Luckily no one got hurt. Someone opened the car door and there was no one inside.

“We saw people calling the police. We don’t know where the car came from or how it got there.”

Chay’s mother Amanda West, 49 said: “Fortunately no one was injured.

“It was so dangerous and luckily Chay wasn’t hurt.

“I want to find out what happened and how and why the car was uncontrolled.”

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “We received a report at 6.09pm on Sunday of a handbrake fail on an unattended silver Vauxhall Tigra parked outside Boots, in North Street, Brighton.

“It rolled into barriers at the corner of North Street and West Street. There were no reports of injuries.”