Runaway van crashes into shop

Just Kidding children's clothes shop owner Chris Giles got a call from an alarm system company to say the alarm in his shop had gone off at 8.45am.

But when he arrived at the scene he found half of his shop window in pieces, his stock churned up and shards of glass strewn across the carpet.

The van had been pushed back and passers-by were gathered around to see what had happened.

It is believed the van driver left the handbrake off.

Mr Giles said: 'There seems to be different stories but I have been told the van was parked on double yellow lines up the road and the driver left the vehicle.

'Apparently a woman saw it rolling away and everyone started shouting.

'Another woman pulled the teenage girl who lives in one of the flats above the shop to safety.'

Mr Giles believed the young woman had head injuries and checked herself into hospital where she was given a neck brace.

He added: 'It could have been a lot worse, there were a lot of school kids around at the time.

'But from my point of view it is a hassle we don't need.

'My stock is damaged and I have hoovered up broken glass from the carpet lots of times.

'I am all boarded up and it will cost thousands of pounds to repair, not counting loss of earnings.'

The shop owner had only taken on the shop five weeks ago and thought it would cost 200 per day while the problem was fixed.

He had not been contacted by either the driver or the company which owns the van about the accident.

He said: 'We have only just finished refurbishing the shop and now it all need replacing.'