Bentleigh East IGA: Donna Campbell calls for Glen Eira Council safety upgrades crashes
There are desperate pleas for safety upgrades at all Glen Eira carparks where clumsy motorists keep smashing into shop fronts.
South East
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A carpark in Melbourne’s south east is proving to be a hazard for motorists — and for traders — with motorists ploughing into shop fronts on multiple occasions.
Resident Donna Campbell supplied Leader with photos of cars having smashed through the front of shops in the carpark in front of the IGA in Bentleigh East in Heather St.
In a letter to Glen Eira Council seen by Leader, Ms Campbell said cars had “ploughed through the IGA’s front windows” on multiple occasions completely wiping out the storefront of the small supermarket.
“This is the second time someone has ploughed through the IGA front windows in recent times,” she wrote
“This exact type of accident has happened at the same location in May 2021.”
Ms Campbell went on to list numerous other locations in Bentleigh where similar accidents had occurred.
“A similar accident happened at IGA in Bentleigh on Patterson Rd last year, and also at Junto Cafe on East Boundary Rd,” she said.
Providing dates for the accidents, Ms Campbell said she “no longer feels safe” shopping at the Heather St IGA.
“This is a place I shop almost daily with my family, I am demanding metal safety bollards are urgently installed wherever parking for shops faces directly towards shopfronts in the City of Glen Eira,” she said.
In her letter, Ms Campbell asked whether VicRoads, the council or the state government were responsible for the carpark and the safety of residents.
“Please let me know who is responsible for actioning this, so that I can direct my complaint to the right people and hopefully see some action before someone is killed,” Ms Campbell wrote.
“Your residents’ safety must be paramount to you all, and this problem must be seen to urgently.”
Ms Campbell told Leader the only response she had received was to advise her the complaint had been passed along to the engineering department at the council.
“After hearing about someone dying in a similar situation in Moorabbin, I really am concerned about this,” Ms Campbell said.
“It’s a highly frequented area, and I go there all the time with my kids. I feel so unsafe knowing that these things are happening regularly.”
Glen Eira Council and the IGA have been contacted by Leader.
gemma.scerri@news.com.au
