Allenton Fresh Supermarket owner Mayank Patel thought he was going to die when a car smashed through his shop.
On Thursday last week about 5.50pm a vehicle drove through the frontage shunting an interior cigarette cabinet into Patel, thrusting his legs against the shop’s front counter.
Video footage from the store shows Patel was opening the cigarette cabinet as the car hit.
Patel said he screamed as he felt pain and wondered what would happen to his family and his staff if he was not to survive.
Patel lives in Ashburton with wife Dhara and their four-month-old son but also supports his mother and brother in India.
‘‘I was squeezed between the smokes cabinet and the front counter,’’ Patel said.
Moments later, despite an injured knee and hand, he was able to climb on top of the counter and jump down.
He limped towards the shop’s exit where he went to the floor and others at the scene spoke to him.
He was the only one in the shop at the time.
Immediately after the crash, Patel had thought it would have most likely been a ram raid, and the car’s occupants would have been aiming to steal cigarettes.
But Patel soon understood the driver was a middle-aged woman who had two teenagers as passengers.
He believed she had lost control of the vehicle, perhaps after accidentally putting her foot on the accelerator instead of the brake. The car had been travelling east towards the shop on Harrison St.
After repairs, Patel and staff were able to reopen the next day.
While his hand remains bruised and his knee bruised and swollen, Patel is happy to be back at work.
He is grateful to the many people who reached out with kind words. He is also grateful to be alive.
‘‘It was really a nightmare for me,’’ Patel said.
‘‘It was the worst experience in my life.’’
Police are investigating the circumstances of the crash.
Ashburton Volunteer Fire Brigade members cleared debris from the car at the scene. They removed it from the shop by driving it in reverse.
