Fareham shop manager describes carnage after car ploughs through window

THE manager of a shop has revealed it was a ‘big shock’ after an elderly female driver smashed through the window.
By Steve Deeks
Published 6th Mar 2019, 06:10 BST
Updated 6th Mar 2019, 07:20 BST
Pictured is: Tharsan Siva, acting manager at Premier Express. Picture: Sarah Standing (050319-959)Pictured is: Tharsan Siva, acting manager at Premier Express. Picture: Sarah Standing (050319-959)
Pictured is: Tharsan Siva, acting manager at Premier Express. Picture: Sarah Standing (050319-959)

No-one was hurt in the accident yesterday at 8am when a Volkswagen Golf, driven by a pensioner in her 80s, ploughed into the Premier Express shop on Highlands Road.

But eyewitnesses and police who attended the scene said the outcome ‘could have been very different’ but for the shop worker having ‘seen the car heading towards him’.

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Manager of the shop Tharsan Siva, who was looking after the shop for his brother Niran Bala, who is away on holiday, said: ‘I was upstairs when it happened. I just got a call from the man who was working downstairs saying a woman had crashed into the shop.

Pictured is: Tharsan Siva, acting manager at Premier Express. Picture: Sarah Standing (050319-959)Pictured is: Tharsan Siva, acting manager at Premier Express. Picture: Sarah Standing (050319-959)
Pictured is: Tharsan Siva, acting manager at Premier Express. Picture: Sarah Standing (050319-959)

‘The fire engines then came and pulled the car out of the shop. The member of staff was OK but a bit shaken. It was lucky he was on the other side of the shop when the car came into the shop. The driver was OK as well.’

He added: ‘It is a big shock this has happened. We spent lots of money refurbishing the shop before opening it in June.’

Kevin and Darren Gamblin, of nearby Daves Family Butchers, saw what happened and said: ‘The woman was having problems parking, going backwards and forwards, before she floored it and mounted the pavement and smashed into the shop.

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‘It was like a bomb going off. Luckily the shop worker got out of the way. If anyone had been behind her they could have been killed.

Inside the store after a car crashed into the Premier shop in Highlands Road FarehamInside the store after a car crashed into the Premier shop in Highlands Road Fareham
Inside the store after a car crashed into the Premier shop in Highlands Road Fareham

‘We’ve seen that woman have problems before with parking. They should put bollards up there to stop cars mounting the pavement.’

PC Rob Lewis, of Havant police, said: ‘Fortunately the person in the shop saw it coming and got out of the way. It could have been a very different outcome had he not seen the car.’

No customers were in the shop at the time of the incident.’

Curtis Mckinley, who works at next door Lloyds Pharmacy, added: ‘The lady was having problems with parking before she lost control and floored it through the shop window. The shop worker had to jump out of the way.’