A LANDLORD has spoken of the moment he dragged a man out of a vehicle after a car crashed into his pub.
A 43-year-old is said to have driven a Nissan Pathfinder 4x4 into the Globe Inn in Bridlington just minutes after being thrown out of one of the oldest pubs in the town.
Stuart Thornton, landlord of the High Street, Westgate, venue, said it was lucky no one was seriously injured on Tuesday evening.
"The man started getting abusive to other customers and I asked him to leave," he said.
"He came back in twice more and then we ejected him from the pub."
The next thing Mr Thornton knew was when he heard the vehicle crash into the venue, shortly before 10.30pm on Tuesday.
"Fortunately, there were no customers sitting on the seat near the front window but, if there had been, there would have been some serious injuries," he said.
"The man then reversed and tried it again. I managed to drag him out of the car and, with the assistance of a friend, held the man down until the police came. I sat on him."
Melissa Rice, 27, who lives in High Street, Bridlington, was walking past as it happened.
"We heard the landlord tell this man to go home and sober up," she said. "The man went away and got into his car before driving it straight at the pub, damaging the wall.
"Luckily, his car wasn't far away, so it wasn't going that fast.
"It looked like he was going to try to hit the pub with his car again but the landlord and another person managed to stop him."
Ms Rice said the outcome could have been serious.
"There were a lot of people in the pub at the time and I dread to think what might have happened if he had managed to hit it again," she said.
"It was very dramatic and scary, as we only live down the road."
Both the police and fire service attended the scene.
A 43-year-old man was arrested at the scene for driving over the prescribed limit, driving dangerously and for criminal damage.
A police spokesman said: "A structural engineer attended the scene.
"There was superficial damage to the pub, the car suffered minor damage and the man was not injured."
The man arrested at the scene remains in custody.
