Flying sparks were captured on a dramatic CCTV image shortly before a car lost control and collided with a derelict pub.

A red BMW hit the wall of the former Volunteer Arms pub shortly after 1.10am on Wednesday, June 7, causing damage to the stones around the front door.

The image was captured by the neighbouring Albion pub, whose bar staff were leaving the pub for the night at around the time the collision occurred.

Sparks can be seen coming from the bottom of the car just seconds before it collided with the former Volunteer Arms.

The red BMW was travelling over the canal bridge on Whalley Road in Clayton-le-Moors.

A male driver suffered minor facial injuries and no arrests have been made.

Damage to the former Volunteer Arms pub in Clayton-le-Moors after it was hit by a BMW.

Albion pub landlady Natalie Graham told the Observer it was lucky that no-one was more seriously hurt.

She said: “The weather was chucking it down with rain. At the time it was torrential.

“Some of my customers walk home after a few drinks and we have plenty who walk straight across the road to go home.”

She added: “We were saying goodbye to the bar staff when one of them came back inside and said ‘look what’s just happened’.

“We went outside and there was debris everywhere and flashing lights. The police were here by then but we didn’t hear the impact.

“The police then started looking around near to our pub and the Conservative Club for CCTV cameras. They came in and had a look and saw the car just before it happened.”

Damage to the former Volunteer Arms pub in Clayton-le-Moors after it was hit by a BMW.

Natalie said it is not the first serious incident on the road in recent years.

She said: “It’s a bad road. They come up or down the hill and it’s a blind bridge. You can’t see what’s coming over the other side.”

The collision caused structural damage to the front of the former pub and the area was cordoned off.

A Lancashire Police spokesperson said: “We were called at 1.20am on Wednesday, June 7, by the ambulance service to reports that a red BMW had collided with the wall of a pub.

"There had been damage caused to the stone around the front door.

"A male driver in the car suffered minor facial injuries.”

Anyone with information or who witnessed the collision should call police on 101.