IPSWICH: Police are carrying out an investigation today after a car mounted the curb and ploughed through the front of a town car dealership.

Officers were called to Landspeed, in Princes Street, shortly before 1.45pm on Bank Holiday Monday, after receiving reports that a car had crashed into the front of the building.

On arrival they discovered that a black Toyota MR2 had smashed into two windows of the centre.

Simon Cole, a director at Landspeed, told the Evening Star that he had been shopping in town when he returned to the centre to collect his car and discovered the “sheer amount of structural damage”.

He said: “Two of the windows were destroyed, but we were quite lucky because it could have been even more destructive.

“After mounting the curb, the driver knocked over a tree and struck the front of the shop.

“It could have been a lot worse, especially if we had been open on the day . . . we would have had our cars at the front of the floor and there would have been a lot more people around.”

Mr Cole later said that the business would be effected by the crash on a long-term basis.

He added: “We will have to undergo a lot of building work in the coming months to ensure that it is all okay. It will greatly effect us.”

A spokeswoman for Suffolk Constabulary confirmed that the incident was being investigated and that inquiries were ongoing.

One eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said the car began to lose control very quickly.

“I was walking along the road and the car quickly sped round past AXA on to Princes Street. It was then that the driver lost control and the car began to swerve a lot before mounting the curb and crashing into the building.

“It seemed like the driver had completely lost control, anyone could have been hit.”

n Did you see the car plough through the shop window? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk