Six people have been injured after a drunk driver is alleged to have deliberately ploughed a car into a group of people outside a nightclub.

The incident happened Sunday morning in the port town of Cuxhaven, west of Hamburg.

Police say the 29-year-old driver, a man from Cuxhaven, was taken in for questioning after four people were seriously hurt and another two slightly injured.

The incident is not thought to be terror related.

Police investigators look for traces after an apparently intoxicated man has driven a car into pedestrians in northern Germany city of Cuxhaven, Sunday morning

They said in a statement that the cause was unclear though there were indications the man may have deliberately hit the pedestrians.

In a statement, Cuxhaven police said: 'Around 7.30am, the control center of the police reported a traffic accident in the Bahnhofstrasse in Cuxhaven, with several injured persons.

'A 29-year-old car driver from Cuxhaven drove along Bahnhofstrasse in the direction of Kämmererplatz.'

They said the driver ran over 'several pedestrians out of an unexplained cause'.

'The 29-year-old is said to have been under the influence of alcohol,' the statement continued.

'The investigation has already started. Further information on the causer and the victims is currently not available.

'The people injured by the accident were hospitalized.

'The driver of the car was first taken to the police station for further clarification.

'There are first indications that the driver should have consciously hit the passers-by.

'The police investigation was started and continues.'