THIS is the moment a child narrowly avoided being hit by a car after playing in the road.

The moment was captured by a woman from Worcester who says she was shocked to see a group of young children playing in the road in Pershore.

Sandra Rowland, who lives in Claines, was visiting Pershore with her two sisters on Thursday, August 20.

She said they were making their way back to her car when they came across the three children throwing things at passing cars on the Newlands road at 3pm.

"We couldn't believe what we were seeing," Mrs Rowland said.

"We saw these children, the youngest looked around three and the older two about five.

"They were sat at the side of the road throwing this big plastic item - possibly a toy wheelbarrow - at a van that was driving past.

"Once the van had gone, because I couldn't quite believe it, I started filming. That's when the kids started running out in to the road between the cars, and it looked like they were playing chicken.

"One child was nearly hit by an oncoming car. I have no idea how the car stopped in time. It's terrifying. When that happened I knew I had to stop filming and do something.

"As we were approaching the children, another van went past and they threw something at it. The van stopped and the driver got out, presumably to have a word with them and find their parents because they were on their own - we couldn't see an adult that looked like they were supervising them. I really thought we were going to see something awful that day."

Mrs Rowland said she has never experienced anything similar to it before.

“We visit Pershore often for a day out, and we’ve never seen anything like that, in Pershore or anywhere else. It just doesn’t happen,” she said.

“What we saw went on for about five minutes, and that is a long time to leave a child unattended anywhere, let alone on a busy road.”

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: “It is extremely dangerous for children to play in the road, while it also puts motorists at risk.

“We would encourage parents to teach their children road safety from a young age in a bid to prevent them from coming into any harm.”