One dead as car crashes into Costa coffee shop

One person has died after a car crashed into a Costa coffee shop at Westerham in Kent. Several people have been injured.

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Police name pensioner who died in Costa crash

Valerie Deakin died on Christmas Eve after a car crashed into the Costa Coffee shop Credit: Family

A tribute has been issued by the family of a woman following a fatal road traffic collision in Westerham, Kent.

Valerie Deakin, who was 74, died on Christmas Eve after a car crashed into the Costa Coffee shop in The Green. A married mother of two, Valerie lived in the village of Udimore, near Rye, East Sussex.

Tables and chairs were sent flying after the crash Credit: Sally Pendleton/PA Wire

At 10.30am on Christmas Eve, 2015, Val, my lovely wife of 50 years, was enjoying a cuppa inside the Costa Coffee café, Westerham, accompanied by her eldest daughter and best friend. The shock and loss are indescribable. Modest, kind, exceedingly hard working and above all caring she loved all creatures, great and small, with a passion. We adored her. Rest in peace.

– Family statement

Officers from Kent Police's Serious Collision Investigation Unit are continuing to appeal for information. Anyone who may have witnessed the collision or who saw the vehicles before or after the incident and who hasn't already contacted police, is asked to come forward

Police enquiries continue after coffee shop crash

Flowers were laid at the scene after the crash Credit: Derek Johnson

Enquiries into the fatal collision in Westerham on Christmas Eve are ongoing, Kent Police say. There have been no arrests.

The woman who died in the accident was aged 74 and from the Rye area of East Sussex. A car ploughed through the window and scattered debris inside.

No further information about her identity will be released by Kent Police.

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"It could have been me," says woman who visited coffee shop

Flowers have been laid at the coffee shop at Westerham in Kent where a woman was killed on Christmas Eve.

The woman, who was in her 70s, was pronounced dead at the scene after a car smashed through a shop window. Five others were injured, four seriously.

A book of condolence has also been laid at the parish church, where prayers have been said for the victims and families. Police are continuing to investigate the incident.

We speak to villagers Ann Bryant and Michale Rudkin and to Rodney Pomfret, church warden of Westerham Parish Church.

Derek Johnson's item includes pictures from Mark Heathcote and @sally_pendleton.

Car hit other vehicles and plunged across pavement before smashing into coffee shop store front

An Audi which crashed into a coffee shop window in Westerham this morning, killing one and seriously injuring 4 others had been driving erratically for half-a-mile according to witness reports.

Police have confirmed that the driver of the car 'lost control' before the incident at the Costa coffee shop - and had hit at least 2 other vehicles and plunged across the pavement before coming to a standstill in the storefront.

Our reporter Sarah Saunders was at the scene.

Car 'lost control' and hit other vehicles before plunging through coffee shop window

Police say the Audi which crashed into a coffee shop window in Westerham this morning, 'lost control and hit a couple of cars' before smashing through the costa shop front.

One woman was killed and four others seriously injured in the incident.

Chief Inspector Roscoe Walford said the vehicle also drove across the pavement before plunging into the busy coffee shop.

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Witness describes car 'shooting across the pavement' before coffee shop crash

A Westerham resident has described the moment an Audi went 'shooting across the pavement' before ploughing into the front of a Costa coffee shop, as he met with friends at another coffee shop across the road.

Michael Rudkin said the car was 'embedded' in the Costa store front.

The incident happened in Westerham, near Sevenoaks at 10.30 am.

One woman in her 70s has died and five other people were injured, four seriously.

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