A customer had walked out of a Wagga fish and chip shop just seconds before a car smashed into it at "quite high speed" on Monday morning, leaving a trail of destruction and a big clean-up in its wake.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Emergency services were called to the Lake Village Takeaway just after 11am following reports a car had crashed into a shopfront.
The owner's, son Shane Roberts, was running the shop at the time of the incident and initially thought one of the staff had accidentally knocked a fridge over.
"It was quite loud," Mr Roberts said.
"It came through at quite high speed and there wouldn't have been any time to move."
If the incident occurred during peak trading hours Mr Roberts said it no doubt would have been a lot worse.
"If it was a Friday night multiple people wouldn't be alive," he said.
"We're all very lucky."
A NSW Ambulance spokesperson said paramedics assessed two people at the scene, within the Lake Village shopping centre complex off Gregory Crescent, but neither were transported to hospital.
Moments before the impact, Mr Roberts said a staff member had served a customer standing right where the car came through.
"We had just served a customer about a minute before it happened," he said.
While the incident has caused some structural damage to the shop, Mr Roberts' main concern was that everyone involved was safe.
"All of this is replaceable, the main thing is that no one was hurt," he said.
Tradesmen were called to the shop immediately after the incident and cleared away rubble from where the wall had collapsed as well as glass from the front window.
Mr Roberts said they would work on putting in a temporary door and were aiming to hopefully get the shop back open and operating in the coming days.
The incident has caused damage to the shopfront and part of the wall joining the takeaway shop to the butcher next door.
It is understood the driver suffered from a medical episode prior to the crash.