A RUN-AWAY car ploughing into a travel agent’s shop has prompted the owner to call for urgent safety measures to be put in place.


Bahar Shah, director at travel agents Sadaat, said it was lucky nobody had been seriously hurt after the unoccupied blue Vauxhall Astra crashed through the front of his business in Whalley New Road, Bastwell, Blackburn.

The incident, which happened around 6.15pm on Tuesday, is the second time a vehicle has crashed into the shop in a matter of months and the third time it has happened in the area in six months. 


Although nobody was injured in the latest incident Mr Shah has called for a barrier to be put up in front of the kerb to protect both pedestrians and property.


Mr Shah said: “It’s a very busy road. We need some protection. The council needs to put up some barriers to keep people safe.


“There are quite a few takeaways on this street and lots of children going into them. Something needs to be done before someone is injured or killed.”


CCTV footage shows the driverless car travelling backwards from the direction of take-away restaurant Kebabish, going through a traffic light junction, jumping the kerb and smashing through the Sadaat window.

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It is estimated to have caused around £4,000 of damage.
Shop worker Adnan Abbas described watching the car travelling towards him from inside the shop and said it was fortunate they had closed up the shop 15 minutes earlier.


Mr Abbas said: “We had closed the shop up at 6pm and put the shutter halfway down. That seemed to cushion the impact for the car. 


“Customers normally sit on the sofa at the front of the shop and that was knocked about two foot forward with the impact.

“It was lucky it hadn’t happened 15 minutes earlier because we would have had customers in and somebody could have been badly hurt.”


Blackburn with Darwen Council’s highways boss Cllr Phil Riley said: “We are looking at that junction and ways in which we can make it more safe and protected.

"We recognise it is a busy road and is blighted by a great deal of inconsiderate parking.”
A police spokesman said they were called at 6.20pm to reports a vehicle had gone into a shop.