SINGAPORE - Instead of coming to a halt when signalled by a police patrol car, a lorry driver reversed into the vehicle behind him, got out and sprinted off into a block of flats.

The accident happened along Toa Payoh Lorong 1 at about 12.40pm on Friday, said Mr Tan Chwee Hock, 52, whose vehicle, also a lorry, was the one that was hit.

He said the driver who was in a dark top ran towards the block of flats near Braddell MRT station.

"Before I knew what was happening, I felt a sharp bump," said the mover in Mandarin. "I was so shocked I could not react." He was with his nephew, Mr Nelson Tan, 38, when the incident happened. No one was injured.

At about 2.15pm, a man in his early 50s arrived at the scene in a police car and told reporters that the vehicle was his. He declined to make further comment.

He drove the abandoned lorry and was accompanied by police to Boon Teck Neighbourhood Police Post along Toa Payoh North. Traffic returned to normal at about 3.20pm.