Emergency services deal with building collapse in South Shields - pictures from the scene

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service was working to make a building safe on the junction of Stanhope Road and Whitehall Street, South Shields, after the gable end of the affected property collapsed.

A Northumbria Police spokesman confirmed the force was contacted at around 12.30pm on Saturday, February 1 by a member of the public, who expressed concerns that a building on the street “did not look very secure”.

Officers provided support to the fire service as crews worked to make the building safe. They also erected a cordon on Stanhope Road and an associated traffic diversion.

A statement at around 1.30pm added: “We are currently assisting Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service with a road closure on Stanhope Road in South Shields.

“The road is closed from the West Way roundabout near to Ashley Road Primary School onto Stanhope Road, natural diversions in place for the surrounding area.”

A local resident, who did not want to be named, had just got off the bus when he saw what had happened.

He told the Gazette: "I was standing outside not long ago this week and my mate said 'that's going to go in time that’.

“The top looked like it was on a slope and the wind must have caught it. My mate was right.

“I knew it. The car is in a right state. It was just a matter of time."

Another local resident was in the nearby Lord Ashley pub at the time.

He came out to see the cordon in place and said: "That building was bending like Beckham. I told my friend it was going to go down. Luckily it wasn't when the nursery came out with the bairns."

Another woman, who was also in the pub, added: "I just saw the rubble on the ground but I didn't see what happened.

“Obviously it hit the car and then we heard the fire engines coming but we couldn't see much after that because they'd cordoned it all off."