TWO teenage students escaped serious injury when falling rubble from a multi-storey car park narrowly missed them.

Workmen accidentally dislodged scaffolding yesterday as they demolished part of the Farringdon multi-storey car park in Elmer Approach, Southend.

Sam Maddison and pal Matt Toyer, who go to South Essex College, were walking down the Farringdon Service Road, behind the multi-storey, when they got a shock at about 11.15am.

The pair were on their morning break from class and on their way back from the town centre when debris, including planks, fell from the crumbling building and through the safety netting.

Sam, 18, of Bournemouth Park Road, Southend, said: “It was quite shocking.

“Me and Matt were just walking past when we almost got hit.

“We heard all this loud banging and crashing down.

“About ten metres ahead, we could see bits of rubble fly out through the scaffolding.

“Then loads more came out and lots of dust came towards us.”

Matt, 19, of Southview Road, Hockley, and Sam ran off in the opposite direction.

Sam added: “You couldn’t see anything apart from dust, it was worrying.

“Looking at the state of the scaffolding, if we had been hit, I think we would’ve been in hospital.”

The multi-storey is being demolished to make way for a £30million library development for Southend Council, plus extra facilities for South Essex College and the University of Essex.

Shocked shopkeepers said nearby cars were left covered in dust following the incident.

Amy Heathcote, assistant manager at Toys N Tuck, in Queens Road, said: “There was a massive explosion. It felt like an earthquake. Out the back it was thick with dust. All the scaffolding had buckled outwards.

“People could have been walking along there at the time.”

The demolition started last week and is expected to be finished by May.

Farringdon closed last November and motorists have been using a new car park under the university accommodation building, in London Road, opposite Sainsbury’s.

Southend Council’s strategic projects manager, Mark Murphy, said: “There was a collapse involving five of the floors. In accordance with health and safety requirements, the site is fenced off by safety netting and scaffolding. This largely contained the effect of this incident, and because of it, no one was injured and there was no damage to vehicles or other buildings.”

Mr Murphy said the service road would be closed as a structural engineer investigated what happened.

He said demolition contractor Elvanite has offered to clean any dust-covered cars.