A shopper has described the moment a car smashed through the front of a supermarket in Stoneycroft, saying he initially thought the building was collapsing. Elliot Lee, 32, from Anfield, was at the till buying bread and milk for his nan when he heard what sounded like an explosion inside Farmfoods on Green Lane on Sunday afternoon (Sunday, October 18).
Chaos inside the shop
The Anfield resident said he and other shoppers were left “in shock” as a car came crashing through the front of the shop, sending people jumping backwards. He told the ECHO: “I was just at the till, and the next minute, it just sounded like an explosion.
“Because there's a wall there, you can't see anything coming, and the next minute we just all saw a car come through and everyone just jumped back. It was just mayhem really.”
Elliot said he initially feared the building was collapsing before shoppers quickly began checking whether everyone was safe. He said: “I thought the building was collapsing, to be honest. I think everyone around me was. Everyone was pretty calm, luckily. No one was screaming. Everyone just reacted quite well.”
Emergency services called
Merseyside Police were called at around 3.22pm following reports that a woman had lost control of her car and accidentally crashed into the front of the supermarket. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and North West Ambulance Service also attended the scene. A spokesperson for Merseyside Police told the ECHO that there were “no visible injuries”.
Photographs taken by an ECHO reporter show a silver car halfway into the supermarket entrance, with several police officers, ambulances, and bystanders around.
Elliot said the first priority for those inside the shop was making sure nobody had been hurt. He said: “One fella shouted, ‘is everyone okay?’, our side of the till, and we were all like, ‘yeah’. He put his head around to check the car, and he said, ‘is everyone conscious in the car?’. Someone must have replied, ‘yeah, we're all conscious’.
“So he was like, ‘OK, everyone's fine this side. Everyone's okay in the car. Everyone be calm now.’”
Staff praised for response
Elliot said staff members quickly contacted the police and the shop's manager following the crash. He also praised the supermarket workers for how they responded to the incident. He said: “The staff were brilliant as well. They were only young girls, and they reacted really well.”
Elliot said he had to call his nan, who was waiting in the car park, to reassure her that he was safe after she heard the loud noise. He said: “I had to ring her to explain I'm okay, because she just heard the big explosion.”
Although the crash caused significant damage to the front of the shop, Elliot said those inside were able to leave safely. He explained that the car had smashed through a recently refurbished section of the frontage, which contained glass panels, before hitting shelving near the tills. He said: “Where the wall was, that's been refurbished recently, so that was just like glass, so they just came straight through that.
“They went into one of the shelves next to the till where a row of chocolate and stuff like that is, so they've just damaged that. And then I think they've knocked one of the fridges over as well.”
Elliot said people were initially still entering the shop after the crash, before a security guard from the nearby Asda came over and said the supermarket would need to close. He added that police arrived within minutes of the incident being reported.
Fire service statement
A statement from Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said: "Fire crews were called to a supermarket on Green Lane, Tuebrook, Liverpool this afternoon after a road traffic collision was reported.
"Crews were alerted at 3.26pm and on scene 4 minutes later, with two fire engines and the search and rescue team in attendance. Crews arrived to find a car had collided with the front of a supermarket.
"Two occupants were out of the vehicle and being assessed by paramedics while a third person from inside the supermarket was also being assessed by paramedics.
"A second vehicle was also involved and the occupant of that vehicle was also being assessed by paramedics. All were conscious and breathing and not thought to have serious injuries.
"All vehicles were on all four wheels. After making the scene safe, crews left the incident in the hands of Merseyside Police at 4.19pm."
