Children playing in Butterfield Green managed to escape uninjured after a Mercedes car came smashing through the iron railings and shrubbery, and into the park this afternoon.

The driver lost control of the silver SUV in Prince George Road, Stoke Newington just before 1pm, and it ended up just yards away from a children's playground.

The occupants of the car fled the scene on foot.

Two males were subsequently arrested on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle.

They both remain in custody at an east London police station.

Bystander George Binette told the Gazette: "There were two or three children in the area on the grass when the vehicle came through, and it's fortunate those children escaped unscathed."

Enquiries into the circumstances continue, according to Scotland Yard.