A black four-door car crashed into the parklet early this morning, damaging and toppling over benches, bins and plant holders
By Marco Marcelline
The parklet on Coppermill Lane in Walthamstow has been heavily damaged after a car crashed into it in the early hours of this morning.
Bench seating and plant holders have been toppled over, with the crash also uprooting bins and causing rubbish to be strewn across the pavement.
No injuries have been reported, and there is no damage to any buildings or other street infrastructure.
Footage of the crash seen by the Echo shows a black four-door car crash at speed into the parklet at 4am today (1st September).
The footage, captured by a private camera operated by a local business on Coppermill Lane, also shows the driver of the vehicle appearing to be uninjured, and walking around, before it was towed away. From the video it’s clear the airbags inside the car were released.
According to staff at The Mill bicycle racks on the pavement managed to stop the car from causing any damage to the community centre’s exterior windows.
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It is unclear if the crash was intentional or not. The registration plate number of the car is not visible in the video.
The incident also resulted in damage to a van parked next to the parklet, with its right rear light being broken and its front registration plate being destroyed.
The car was towed away by a vehicle recovery company just before 7am this morning.
Lantern Recovery, which towed the vehicle away, did not respond to requests for further information.
Waltham Forest Council has been contacted for comment.
Parklets such as the one on Coppermill Lane have been erected by the council across the borough in recent years. The council describe them as “small-scale semi-permanent structures that repurpose and transform parts of streets or parking spaces, utilising greenery, seating and other features”.
The purpose of the parklets are to encourage active travel and improve the street aesthetics of neighbourhoods. Further parklets include one outside Froth and Rind on Orford Road in Walthamstow Village, outside Cove 17 on Wood Street, and outside the Stone Mini Market on High Road Leytonstone.
If you have any information you can share on this story please get in touch: [email protected]
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