Residents living near to where a building collapsed after a car smashed into it said it was an ‘accident waiting to happen’ and said they have been campaigning for speed bumps in the area for years.
Emergency services were called to Canterbury Street in Ashton-under-Lyne at around 6.45pm on Thursday evening (January 5) following reports a BMW had smashed straight into the Alan Fish LTD electricals store, causing the already damaged building to completely crumble.
Greater Manchester Police later confirmed a woman had been arrested on suspicion of drink driving and was taken into custody. There were no reported injuries.
Alan Fish, who has owned the small store on the corner of Canterbury Street and Cowhill Lane for 46 years, told the M.E.N last night that he was in the shop just minutes before the incident. He said the shop had already been damaged by another vehicle just last September.
On Friday morning, a large cordon remained in place as emergency crews continued at the scene. Speaking to the M.E.N, residents in the area said they were not surprised to hear of another crash so soon after the previous incident.
“I was watching the City and Chelsea game on television and I just heard a massive bang coming from outside,” one man, who lives on Canterbury Street, said. “I went to have a look at it this morning and the rubble has completely covered the car underneath it, it is incredible that no one was injured.
“We’ve had a fair few incidents like this before. The shop was all boarded up because it had already been smashed up three months ago when another car already smashed into it.”
“When we first heard the crash, we thought a skip was being dragged down the street,” another Canterbury Street neighbour, who gave their name as Nicola, said. “I heard a couple of screams so we went to have a look at what had happened. My fear was that someone in the shop had been hurt.
“I’ve lived here for 25 years and it used to be really, really quiet until they put the bypass at Lord Sheldon Way. Things have been really bad since then, there've been quite a few incidents in the last five years and it’s getting worse.
“People are using our road for shortcuts. A number of neighbours have had their parked cars hit due to people speeding down the road. You can replace cars, but these are people’s homes. We really need speed bumps in the area.”
Another neighbour said his car had just ‘narrowly’ missed being hit by a speeding car in a previous incident. He reiterated the need for speed bumps in the surrounding roads.
“It’s crazy,” Stephen Bardsley said. “There’s a park just around the corner and kids are always crossing the road where the crash happened last night. Cars are always coming up the road at frightening speeds, I think it’s because they know there’s no speed bumps or cameras around here.
“There needs to be proper speed bumps around here. It’s only a matter of time before something worse happens. I’m amazed that nobody was seriously injured last night.”
One neighbour, who lives on the nearby Cowhill Lane, said they had signed a petition during the lockdown asking for speed bumps to be introduced to deter speeding. They said they had heard nothing more about the petition since.
“I think it was just an accident waiting to happen,” they said of last night’s incident. “That corner is unbelievable. Because people park to get to the shop on the corner, it gets really congested and when people come down the road, they’re going really fast.
“We know to take our time round that corner because people are speeding down there all the time. The area is just a nightmare for it. Because it’s a bit of a rat run, people come this way to cut off the main road and they go at a chaotic speed.
“We had a petition to get speed bumps just after lockdown but nothing has come from it yet. There needs to be yellow lines and speed bumps. as it’s definitely a danger trap. They come up this road at absolute speed, but if they had speed bumps then they’d have no choice but to slow down.”
A GMP spokesman said of the incident: "At 6:45pm on Thursday, January 5, officers attended a road traffic collision on Canterbury Street in Ashton-Under-Lyne, Tameside.
"A car collided with a building causing part of the building to collapse. Officers and emergency services are in attendance and a scene is in place. One woman has been arrested on suspicion of drink driving and has been taken into police custody as enquiries continue."
Tameside Council have been approached for comment.
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