Woman knocked down after car mounts pavement in Stockbridge

DOWNLOAD THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS APP ON ITUNES OR GOOGLE PLAY

200 Voices: find out more about the people who have shaped Scotland

The white Volkswagen mounted the pavement striking the woman outside a Spanish deli at 12:45 this afternoon.

Manager of Spanish Fine Foods store Goya23, Luis Macias, was first on the scene.

The impact of the car buckled a railing outside his business before wedging on a step and pinning the pedestrian underneath.

“I was with a customer and heard a loud bang,” said Luis, 33, clearing up outside the store.

“There was a lady on the floor under the car and I can’t forget her face, she was in shock.

“I opened the door of the car and made sure the handbrake was on, then I went to call an ambulance.

“A couple of doctors from Stockbridge Health Centre were passing and they started to help the woman on the floor.

“She was really suffering and saying she had pain all over her body. People were asking how she was and how old she was and she was answering them.

“The driver was really shaken up and she was so worried about the lady on the floor - she just kept saying she’d lost control as she tried to brake.”

Mr Macias believes the wrought iron railing had cushioned the impact of the car and prevented worse injuries to the pedestrian.

“The most important thing was the barrier - I think it saved the lady’s life because otherwise she would’ve gone through the window.

“There’s blood on the floor and I’m just cleaning up now.”

Mr Macias told of previous near misses at the bus stop outside his store and called for better safety measures.

“I think something should be done - maybe railings on the pavement. Last week a taxi had to brake hard.”

Fine art photographer and owner of Mis Bizio Couture on adjacent St Stephen Street, Joanna Black, was passing when she too heard the impact and aftermath.

“I was walking along St Stephen Street and heard this bang and then screaming,” said Ms Black, 50.

“It was almost a cross between an excited hen night and girls screaming because they’d just seen something emotional.

“It just sounded like friends screaming in a frenzy of excitement and could’ve been positive or negative - I didn’t know what had happened.

“I spoke to two women at the bus stop who were walking down the road and they saw the car coming and were able to run out of the way but the other woman couldn’t.

“The car must’ve knocked her legs from under her - knocked her legs out and then knocked her down.

“I was taking photographs in case the police need them.”

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Edinburgh road policing officers have charged a 65-year-old woman with a road traffic offence after a collision on North West Circus Place.”

“The incident happened around 12.45 today, Wednesday 8th February when a white Volkswagen Up mounted the pavement.

“The injured woman was taken to hospital by the Scottish Ambulance Service.”

The condition of the woman is not yet known.