Published: 29 December 2011
by TOM FOOT

A TAXI driver took a turn for the worse on Thursday, closing Hampstead High Street for five hours on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

The 4×4 vehicle went down a grassy bank after attempting a three-point-turn in narrow, one-way Greenhill, opposite Gap clothes shop, and crashed into a parked Volkswagen.

Witness Charlie Bard, a ­photographer from Belsize Park, said: “It happened at about 11am but it wasn’t cleared up until 3pm. There were lots of people standing around with their phones out saying, ‘how did this happen?’.”

Two fire engines and a rescue unit were sent after reports of a driver being trapped in the car but no one involved suffered injuries.

A fire brigade spokesman said the High Street was closed in both directions, adding: “We were called at 10.54am and attended because a person was thought to be trapped, but when we got there they were not.”