Shop owners in the Wamberal shopping centre are advocating for more traffic controls in the Central Coast Council-owned carpark, after a car ploughed into the Not Just Cakes bakery just after 9:30am last Friday morning, February 11.
Owner Linda Beasley was not in the store at the time of the incident and was informed of it by a phone call from an employee.
“There was one shop assistant and one customer in the store at the time and a pastry cook at the back,” she said.
“I think it happened too quickly for them to have much of a reaction.
“Looking back at the CCTV footage, a car has come into the carpark and gone to turn into a car space but kept accelerating.
“Thankfully no one was hurt, including the driver of the car.”
Beasley said the extent of the damage was still to be determined by insurers but the front door and the brick wall between the shop and the one adjoining had been damaged.
“It was really lucky she was still turning the car; if she had straightened up it could have been a lot worse,” she said.
“It could have come through the glass and right into the shop and someone could have been hurt.
“The wall will need to be rebuilt and the shopfront will need to be fixed.”
Beasley said the insurance company had temporarily boarded up the shopfront so the bakery can continue to trade.
“I believe a similar thing happened 10 or 11 years ago on the other side of the shop and the BWS next door also had an incident in recent years,” she said.
“I really think Council needs to put some stoppers or bollards in the carpark.”
A staff member at BWS Wamberal confirmed a car had gone through the front of that shop around 18 months ago.
She said staff had appealed to Council at the time for more safety measures in the carpark, with no result.
Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) responded to the incident last Friday.
Firefighters evacuated six people from the unit complex above the bakery as a precaution, assessing the structure and deeming it safe before allowing residents to return to their homes.
Police were also in attendance.
A Central Coast Council spokesperson said officers had commenced an investigation to identify what options are available to address safety concerns associated with the use of the car park.
“Consultation with shop owners/operators will be undertaken as part of this investigation,” the spokesperson said.
Terry Collins