Yet another car smashes into Heathmont’s Canterbury Rd shopping strip

SHOP owners are pleading with a council in Melbourne’s outer east to act after a car crashed into a store front, the fifth such incident on the strip in recent years.

The window of the Bakers Delight store the car crashed into. Picture: Mark Wilson

HEATHMONT Village traders have called for stronger safety measures after another car smashed into a shopfront at the shopping strip.

An elderly Heathmont man accidentally drove his red Toyota sedan into the front of Bakers Delight about 9.30am yesterday.

Car drives into store again at Heathmont’s notorious Canterbury Rd shopping strip

Traders and shoppers at Heathmont Village say they feel safer with a lower speed limit on Canterbury Rd

Man and daughter’s close call as car crashes through shop window

It is the fifth time in recent years a car has driven into a shopfront at the Canterbury Rd strip.

The car sustained minor damage after it knocked over a parking sign and shattered the front window of the store.

The store closed for the rest of the day. Picture: Mark Wilson

Bakers Delight owners closed the store for the rest of the day to assess the damage and ensure products were not contaminated.

Heathmont Meat and Poultry employee Damian Bryce, whose business is next door to Bakers Delight, said he heard a loud bang when the car smashed into the shopfront.

Mr Bryce said it was “amazing” no one had been injured or killed in yesterday’s crash and previous incidents.

He called for Maroondah Council to double the number of bollards along the shopping strip and “put one in between each car space.”

“Something has to happen now for sure,” he said.

“It’s amazing no one has been hurt by any of them over the last few years.

“It was lucky it was school holidays and there were less people around.”

Heathmont Flowers owner Helen Brown, who had a car smash through the front of her store in October 2006, said she knew of about 12 occasions when a similar incident had occurred at the shopping strip.

Mrs Brown said she and her fellow traders were “concerned and shocked” by the latest crash.

She said the bollards outside the shops must be moved closer together to ensure another accident did not occur.

“It’s incredible to think they keep going between the bollards,” she said.

“They have to do something with this parking, and put the bollards closer together,” she said.

“There are so many people walking up and down the street; Bakers Delight is always busy, there could have been children or elderly people hit.”
Maroondah mayor Tony Dib and the Maroondah Council did not commit to any further works at the shopping strip when a vehicle smashed into the Priceline store on November 29.

The council has been contacted for comment.