POLICE IN THE UK have arrested a man in connection with a bizarre incident on Saturday night, which saw 25 people injured when a car drove into them on a pavement outside a busy nightclub.

23 people were injured, two of them seriously, when the Saab car was driven at the doormen of the Dali Bar in Rochdale, outside Manchester, at 2:10am in the early hours of Sunday morning.

None of the injured were members of staff at the venue, according to the Manchester Evening News.

The car then drove 200 yards down the wide footpath outside the bar before returning to the street. The Saab was found abandoned elsewhere in the town about two hours later.

14 people – seven men and seven women – needed hospital treatment after the incident. Three of the victims remained in hospital for the remainder of the night.

One injured man told the BBC:

I looked by the side of me and there were loads of people on top of the car and by the time anything happened he had already hit me.

It was like something out of a film. I looked behind and there were people all over, lying on the floor in a right mess.

The arrested man, who is 26, is understood to have been refused entry into the venue. A fellow passenger (also 26) who was also refused entry is being sought by police.

Detective chief inspector Lynne Vernon of the Greater Manchester Police said officers were looking “to locate a second man and I would urge him to hand himself in.

“The person we are looking for knows we want to speak to him and so will a number of others – so if anyone knows where he is they should call us.”