Herts police are tracking down a bin lorry that crashed into an historic Hitchin pub, according to the owners.

At around 1pm on Wednesday, the emergency services were called to respond to the incident at Kite at the Red Hart, in Bucklersbury.

The pub's owners say as the lorry tried to pass a parked car, it climbed onto the pavement and ripped off the corner beam of the 450-year-old pub, before driving off.

Both the police and Herts firefighters responded to the incident, after receiving a call from the pub's owners that a lorry had hit the front of the building.

Ben Hedley, joint owner of Kite at the Red Hart, was watering the pub's vegetable garden when one of his bar staff explained that a lorry had struck the building.

He said: "I was mortified that the lorry had driven off without checking if anyone was hurt.

"The noise brought out many shopkeepers to see what was happening, so the driver must have been aware that they had struck something."

Herts police say enquiries are being carried out to trace the vehicle.