‘Sheer panic’ as child killed by car on Kendal sports pitch

People have described a scene of “sheer panic” as a car crashed through a fence and on to a sports pitch, killing a child and injuring another.

The pair were struck at Kendal rugby club at about 17:00 GMT on Wednesday, Cumbria Police said.

Eyewitness Scott Denney said it “all happened very fast”, adding: “Just as we got on to the pitch, a car came through the barriers at the top and then landed on the pitch.”

A male driver, who is aged in his 40s, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

Mr Denney, whose son attends the GT7 Football Academy which holds training sessions at the rugby club, said he had “no idea” how the car got on to the field.

“It was just sheer panic. It was just not very nice at all.

“The children were obviously scared but the coaches dealt with it really, really well.”

He said staff got the children off the field and out of view of the crash site, and added: “Last night there was a lot of families here that pulled together to give support to the mum and dad and friends of the [victims].”

Tim Farron, the MP for the area, said news of the crash was “utterly devastating”.

“There was this shared sense of utter shock and horror, the whole town is utterly, utterly devastated by this,” he said.

A police presence remained at the rugby club into the night.

The Reverend Canon Shanthi Thompson, from Kendal Parish Church, said a moment of silence was held after its Ash Wednesday service “because it’s so hard to find the words to say at a time like this”.

“Kendal is a very close community and many, many people will have links to the rugby club and people will know the children involved,” she told BBC Radio Cumbria.

At the scene

Jennie Dennett, BBC Radio Cumbria

The sunrise here is lighting the frosty pitch and the very wrong sight of two buckled fence panels that are pitchside, opposite the clubhouse car park.

The green panels have bent right over in front of the drop down to the pitch and there is blue and white police tape across the gap in the fence.

It’s an indication of the awful consequences of yesterday’s crash.