A NOTRE Dame High pupil hit the school gate while driving into the grounds after lunch.

The 17-year-old, who had recently passed his test, was shaken but uninjured following the collision.

Police and fire crews rushed to the scene on Dunlop Street at around 1pm yesterday when the gold estate car smashed into the wall of the brand new school. Onlooker Ivy Siegfried, secretary of Cowdenknowes Residents Association, who lives nearby, said: "I heard that it was a school pupil who has just passed his test.

"He was coming back from lunch and the car went straight into the school gate. An elderly person could have been crossing the road or a woman with a pram or schoolchildren going back after lunchtime. It's very lucky that nobody was killed. There's an accident practically every week on this road." The new �29 million Notre Dame School opened in August.

Crews from Greenock fire station were called to the scene of the accident amid concerns fuel was leaking from the damaged car.

Greenock police confirmed that there had been an accident but no one was injured.

An Inverclyde Council spokesman said: "There was a minor accident involving a car outside the school. No pupils were injured."