Road train smashes into buildings, cars in South Australia’s oldest country town

The driver allegedly drove off before being caught by authorities in a nearby town.

A truck driver “failed to stop” after colliding with a building and several parked cars on a main street in Gawler, a historic country town 42 kilometres north of Adelaide.

Footage shows the giant vehicle scraping the front of a commercial building before smashing into two parked cars.

The incident occurred on Murray Street, a popular local ‘mainstreet’ filled with shops, cafes and restaurants, at the intersection of Commercial Lane on Friday night.

A truck has been captured scraping into a building and two parked cars in the main street of Gawler late on Friday night. Picture: Facebook/Drillin’ Panagiotou

Damage to the exterior of shop front following the crash. Picture: Peter Macc on Facebook

Locals were quick to share their confusion at the incident when the footage was shared to a community social media page.

“Exactly why anything bigger than a ‘removal’ truck should be banned from Gawler’s heritage streets,” one wrote.

According to the city council, Gawler is the land of the Kaurna people and was the site of South Australia’s first regional European settlement.

“How the f**k did he get down there in the first place? Could be more damage before going around the corner,” another person wrote on the social media post.

One local was in so much disbelief that they “didn’t even believe” the footage was the Gawler main street until rewatching the video “several times.”

Emergency services were called to the scene around 10pm on Friday night after receiving reports of the collision.

South Australian police later confirmed the road train “did not stop at the scene.”

The driver was arrested about an hour away in the town of Sedan.

A Western Australian man, 57, was charged with driving without due care, dangerous speeding, and failing to stop at the scene of a crash.

He did not apply for bail and will appear in the local court on Monday, The Adelaide Advertiser reports.

Originally published as Road train smashes into buildings, cars in South Australia’s oldest country town