CCTV footage shows moment car crashes into restaurant in Oswaldtwistle

CCTV Footage shows the moment the car crashed into the window

A restaurant owner "thought a bomb had gone off" when a car smashed into her business and ended up lodged in the front window.

The Ford Fiesta collided with The Royal Phoenix Chinese restaurant in Oswaldtwistle, in Lancashire, at around 2.30am on Tuesday 13 August.

The smash left a trail of destruction - and the owners of the eatery say it is not the first time it has happened.

San Tse said there had been another crash there in 2019, and another in 2014 before she took over.

She said: "With this one, the speed must have been much higher because they crashed straight through the metal railing in front of the building and into our bar.

"So there's much more of an impact." San added: "There's a lot to do, the cleaning... it's quite a mess as you can imagine."

The restaurant sits in front of a mini roundabout on Union Road, where the speed limit is at 30mph.

But the adjoining Moscow Mill Street is 20mph, where it is believed the Ford Fiesta had been travelling.

"It was a sudden, really loud bang," San explained. "Initially, everyone thought it was a bomb because of the shake of the building, or we thought it was an earthquake.

"We weren't really sure what it was, but we weren't expecting a crash at all. You can see in the CCTV footage, literally seconds from the car crashing in to the front, a member of staff was there to check and have a look at the driver.

"Due to all the rubble, he wasn't able to get to the driver. He walks out of the bar and goes out of the back of the building to get to the front and that only takes a few seconds, but by the time he's ran round to the front, the driver and the passenger ran out of the car.

"Both of the doors were undamaged, it's only the front of the car that was damaged, so they were unable to unlock the doors and get out."

Although the driver did cause significant damage to the front of the restaurant, San says they are "extremely lucky" as no one was hurt.

In the aftermath, San says she assumed the police would organise clean-up operations and a company to border up the front of the restaurant.

However, after not getting any sleep for the entire night, it was late morning she realised she'd have to arrange for this herself.

Since the incident, she said she has felt the huge support from the local community:"We've had messages on Facebook and I've had personal messages through my phone from customers, all saying they'll help.

"Even my staff members have said, if you need a hand to clean up I would be more than happy to help.

"It's just been a source of comfort because when you go through something like this, you just feel like you're on your own.

"When you've got the community rallying behind you to support you, just to say you're not on your own and if you want any help or a cup of tea, they'll help you. I feel very loved and blessed."

Whilst The Royal Phoenix has the support from customers, the worry of being closed for too long is still very much a problem for San.

She added: "We are worried, it's always a worry when you're in business about being closed for a certain period of time, you don't know what the results are going to be like when you reopen. Are people still going to come back? How's my business going to be?"

With her focus on getting the restaurant back up and running, San said one thing she hopes to see change in is the safety of the road itself.

With previous accidents and this one most recently, she says people have "no care for the Highway Code, or care for others" and with doors and windows open in the restaurant, you can hear tyres screech from the main road.