A car crashed into a bus shelter today as British prime minister Gordon Brown was unveiling a new Labour Party poster nearby.
The Volkswagen Golf smashed into the shelter on a traffic island in Hockley, Birmingham, just metres from the car park where the launch was taking place. The driver apparently lost control after the car was involved in a collision with a bin lorry.
The prime minister carried on with his speech at the event, aimed at re-energising his campaign in the final week of the election, as emergency services went to the scene.
Witnesses said people in a passing bin lorry were jeering at the launch as it drove around the traffic island just moments before the crash.
There were no injuires, police said.
Witness Jay Bailey (36) said she saw the truck make contact with the car. "The lorry driver was shouting abuse as they drove past and they did not see the car," she said. "It hit the car, which lurched into the bus shelter."
Stephen Miller (39), a computer engineer, said: "I heard shouting and turned around and saw three or four guys shouting at the politicians."
Inspector Jim Gooderidge, of West Midlands Police, said the full circumstances were unclear but officers were speaking to the drivers involved.