MOTOR-CAR CRASHES THROUGH SHOP DOOR

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28231, 20 March 1957, Page 12

MOTOR-CAR CRASHES THROUGH SHOP DOOR

A motor-car crashed through the open doorway of a fruiterer and greengrocer's shop at a city intersection yesterday afternoon. When two cars collided at the corner of* Madras and Peterborough streets at 4.40 p.m. the force of the impact caused one car to sheer off direction. It crossed the footpath, narrowly missed striking a power pole, and crashed through the open doorway of the shop on the northwest corner of the intersection. Its - driver, Dr. J. Restell Thomas, was not injured, although the car was badly damaged. As the car mounted the steps of the shop and came to rest half in and half out of the doorway it carried away the door framework and a comer stud of the building, causing the south wall of the shop, containing a large plate-glass window, to collapse. Woman Customer

A woman standing in the shop with her back to the doorway being served by a shop assistant was lucky to escape injury from the falling wall and flying glass. I Miss D. Ede, who was serving behind the counter at the time, said that she heard a loud crash and looked just in time to see the car come hurtling through the shop doorway. “I saw that I could do nothing to stop it, and so just stood and watched, and wondered how far it would come,” she said. The door of the shop is only six paces from the counter but the car came to rest just short of the counter. The woman being served had barely time to turn round and realise her danger before jamming herself right up against the shop counter. She was somewhat! shaken by the experience. The floor of the shop was littered with splintered door framework, smashed glass, and a jumbled assortment of fruit and

vegetables from display shelves in the window. A considerable quantity of fruit will have to be thrown out by the shopkeeper, Mr Edward Anderson, because of the danger of small fragments of glass being embedded in it. Otherwise, Mr Anderson will carry on business as usual. Service Continued His wife actually operated a bacon slicer and served a small boy, who had gingerly picked his way through the wreckage on the shop floor, with half of a pound of bacon while damage was still being assessed. Persons going home from work in the city quickly had their attention attracted by the gathering of onlookers and the unusual sight of a motor-car in the doorway of a shop. A considerable crowd of persons watched both vehicles involved in the collision removed by breakdown vehicles. The second car was also badly damaged. It had been travelling west along Peterborough street. Dr. Thomas’s car was travelling north along Madras street. The owner of the shop is Mr G. Marker. It was insured against fire only.