PUPILS were left shaken when a car crashed metres from their primary school - at the same time as a policeman was carrying out speeding checks in the road.

Children looked on as the vehicle hit a parked car outside Leverton Junior School in Honey Lane, Waltham Abbey, before mounting the pavement and smashing into a nearby brick wall.

The car finally came to a stop in a hedge.

No-one was injured.

It happened at around 11am on Thursday (October 21), but police have only made the details public now.

Ten pupils from the school were with the officer, PC Duncan Stableford, of Chigwell Road Policing Unit, at the time as part of a road safety exercise.

He said: “The children were checking the speed of drivers on one side of the road when a car travelling in the other direction went out of control about 15 yards further along the road.

“The car clipped the parked car and because its front wheel was damaged it mounted the pavement, struck a brick wall and came to rest in a hedge. The car was badly damaged and will probably be a write-off.

“The driver was badly shaken and admitted that she had lost concentration and had failed to clear the parked car.

“It was a good thing that she was wearing a seat belt because the car struck the wall with some force.

“We do school speed visits to teach children about crossing the road safely and being aware of the speed of cars. The crash also taught them to always be alert when on the road and to always wear a seat belt.”

A police spokesman said the woman, from the Waltham Abbey area, had agreed to go on a driver improvement scheme after the crash.

No further action will be taken.