A four-year-old girl escaped after being hit by a runaway trailer as she sat at a bus stop.

Phoebe Clough had been waiting for a bus with her aunt and uncle when the accident happened on Saturday morning.

A trailer broke loose from a red vehicle and ploughed into the seats at the bus stop, hitting Phoebe.

The little girl was dragged under the trailer and pinned against the seats.

Witnesses had to drag the trailer out of the bus stop to free Phoebe.

The youngster was taken to South Tyneside District Hospital by a shopkeeper.

She suffered severe internal bleeding and bruising to her legs and back and is under observation in hospital, where her condition was described as comfortable yesterday.

Police are searching for the driver of the red vehicle, who police say was only inches from killing Phoebe.

The vehicle did not stop after the accident near The Nook shopping centre, in South Shields. South Tyneside.

Phoebe's father, Paul, from Cleadon, South Tyneside, said: "We are hoping she will be allowed home very soon."

PC Andy Wilkinson, from South Shields police, said: "Our inquiries are still ongoing to find this person."