9:18 am, December 7, 2022
A car crashed into the front of a recently refurbished car dealership while staff were still sat at their desks.
Glass showered the sales team in the MG dealership run by Sandicliffe in Derby Road, Loughborough.
The crash was caught on video by the dealership’s CCTV cameras and shows the Citroen Picasso careering off the road and into the front window of the dealership.
Sandicliffe has shared the footage with Car Dealer which can be seen above.
Two cars – an a new MG4 and an MG ZS EV – that were inside the showroom were said to be written off.
Leicester Live reported that three members of staff were covered in glass, metal and other debris after the crash, which happened at 10am on Monday morning.
The showroom had only just been refurbished and was set for a grand reopening with an event later this week.
The crash is said to have caused more than £60,000 worth of damage to two cars while the repair work is likely to cost £50,000.
Footage of the crash was even published by the BBC.
‘I was 60 yards away and I heard a dull thud,’ general manager Gary Dighton told the local paper.
‘It was quite a thing to see a car rammed into the front of the showroom, but luckily nobody was injured.
‘Her car, a Citroen C4 Picasso, looked completely written off with all the airbags deployed.
‘The refurbishment had just finished last week but now we’ve had a little setback and have had to retire the two cars damaged from sale.’
The driver of the car was treated at the scene by emergency services and suffered minor injuries. She was taken to hospital.
Sandicliffe CEO Paul Woodhouse told Leicester Live: ‘I felt the building shake even though my office is on the first floor and close to 75 meters away. When I got to the MG showroom there was broken glass and bits of the building strewn all over our new showroom.
‘I am so pleased no one appeared to be injured and so proud of how the team reacted in helping the lady who had driven into the building.
‘Having subsequently seen the security video footage I am just so relieved nobody was in the immediate vicinity because things could have been so much worse.
‘Vehicles and buildings can be repaired, it is great that no one was injured.’
The MG and Nissan business remains opens as usual, said the dealership.
