On Saturday afternoon around 3.00 – 3.30, an elderly lady, Betty Fuller, drove her car into the bay window of Hungerford Arcade. The noise was so loud, it sounded as if a bomb had gone off and people 500 or 600 yards away came running down the road to help. A wall of glass shards shot through the Arcade and the staff acted promptly to make sure everyone was safe. The emergency services were called and arrived on the scene promptly. As a precautionary measure everyone was asked to leave the Arcade but returned a short time later when it was re-opened.
When the car hit the Arcade, Police Community Support Officers, Adam Burson and Joanna King were first on the scene. Further Police, Ambulance and the Fire Brigade were on their way and Betty was being looked after in the car by her daughter, Arcade stallholder, Sarah Jane and Arcade staff at the scene. Thankfully, Betty only suffered some bruising and no-one else was involved.
On a lighter note, no-one was injured and Sarah Jane joked, “the oldest ram-raider in the country has now been caught!”.
The Hungerford Arcade staff acted in a very professional, caring way, ensuring Betty and all the customers were looked after in the face of what could so easily have been a tragedy. They even had the Arcade up and running again within an hour.
Rita
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