Police hunt for teens after car crashes into listed building
Video report from ITV News Meridian's Will Walters
Just after 13:30 yesterday afternoon a loud bang shook the building of the SUP Company in Southampton.
When owner Tony Jones rushed outside, he saw the rear of a Nissan Micra. The front was firmly lodged in the outer wall of his business.
He said: "It's pretty clear when you look out of a window when you see people running away from a vehicle that they just smashed into the side of a building, that they probably don't want to hang around".
Tony Jones recounts the moment he rushed outside
Tony and his team took the opportunity to run after the three young men who were in the process of fleeing the scene: "Myself and everyone we work with here gave chase and we were fortunate enough to catch one of the young lads in the car and then held onto him until the police arrived".
Amazingly the three teenagers inside the vehicle managed to escape seemingly unharmed. The building, however, has been left with a gaping hole.
Tony's company supplies paddle boards and water sports equipment.
It had to close during the recent lockdown and staff had been hoping to re-open the shop this Saturday. That now can't happen, but they're not going to let that get them down.
Tony and the team are remaining positive
He said: "So for us here, look, it's another day theres a lot of difficulty out there for a lot of different people at the minute. If this is our biggest problem then hey, onto tomorrow, we paddle on".
Woodmill Lane, a main route into Southampton is still closed, causing problems for commuters and Police are continuing to investigate the incident.
For now Tony will keep his business running online, but is looking forward to welcoming customers back through his door once repairs are carried out.