Out-of-control car ploughs into factory reception

Despite the crash demolishing the building, no one was hurt and the driver incredibly walked away with only minor injuries from the crash. The driver collapsed at the wheel of his Volkswagen Sharan people carrier shortly before the two-tonne vehicle mounted the pavement and crashed into the reception area of John Stokes Ltd in Tipton, West Midlands on Tuesday.



The footage of the crash, which was captured on firm's CCTV, showed a woman walking in front of the business just seconds before the people carrier drove into it. The vehicle is seen tearing through bricks and windows before being brought to an abrupt halt by a metal safe. Minutes before the crash, business owner Dene Stokes, 59, was standing in the reception area, which had undergone a £25,000 refurbishment the previous month, with a client.


YouTube link.

At the time the people carrier hit the building he was on the phone talking to his son. Mr Stoke's son Tom said: "I was on the phone to my father... and I kept him talking longer than usual. It was lucky that I did because he would have been back in reception if I hadn't have called.



"Just minutes earlier he had been standing there with a client - it doesn't bare thinking about what could've happened if he was sitting on that sofa." Metal worker Frank Knight, 50, who saw the crash, said: "I saw him smash through the window at what must have been over 40mph - it didn't seem real. It was more like something out of a Hollywood film - the guy is incredibly lucky to walk away from that."


There's a video showing the aftermath here.