Shopkeepers survey damage of Surbiton crash (From Kingston Guardian)

Shopkeepers survey damage of Surbiton crash

3:20pm Monday 12th March 2012 in Your Say By Nazia Dewji , Reporter

Shopkeepers were surveying the damage today after a car hurtled into the front of two shops yesterday morning.

A black Volkswagen Golf crashed into two shops in Ewell Road, Surbiton, in the early hours of Sunday morning after a high-speed police chase.

Scraps of metal, bricks and broken glass were strewn across the road and a bench was destroyed.

The engine of the car was flung metres from the crashed car.

The driver of the Golf was taken to hospital with head injuries which were understood not to be life-threatening.

Laura Fry, 23, who lives above the Feedwell cafe that was hit, said: “I felt the impact and the flat was shaking. I thought there might be a fire.

“I came out in my pyjamas and saw the police. There was a man on the floor wrapped in cling film."

Ten residents were evacuated at about 5am and the road was closed for five hours.

They are still without gas and water which was switched off for safety.

Miss Fry, who has an eleven-month-old son, said: “It’s a right pain. We have electric heaters but we need water to wash bottles. We don’t even have any phone lines.”

Feedwell Cafe and Cycleopedia were both boarded up soon after the incident.

Paul Crane, 42, who runs Cycleopedia and is the landlord for both shops, said: "I have no idea how much the damage will cost.

"It will probably be over £50,000 and it could take months but we have to keep trading because it’s the start of the season for us."

Cycleopedia opened for business today with customers encouraged to use the rear entrance.

A vehicle crashed into a hairdressers on the opposite side of the road, almost nine years ago to the week, forcing it to close for nine months.

Chris Dendy, owner of Peter Cross Gentlemen's Hair Stylist, said: "Its awful for them. I wouldn't wish it on anybody.

"I got a phone call from a mate thinking it might be my address.

"I couldn't have handled it twice. I would have been devastated."