Drivers count the cost

THREE drivers were counting the cost of damage today after a car driven by an elderly man was in collision with their parked vehicles in Felixstowe, leaving one car a possible write-off and his own car reportedly unscathed.

The four-car pile-up happened while the elderly man was trying to park his car in St Andrews Road, opposite Norsk Antiques.

Police were called to the accident when a passing policeman saw what had happened and when a near-by business owner saw liquid leaking from one of the damaged cars, she called the fire service.

The elderly driver was given oxygen and treated for shock by ambulance crews but was not said to have needed hospital treatment and had been sent home uninjured.

The accident happened at around 12.15pm on Wednesday. An eyewitness said that the crash happened in slow motion as the man appeared to mistakenly hit the accelerator rather than the brake when he attempted to park. She said his car did not shoot forward in to the three cars, which were parked in front of one another by the pavement, but instead seemed to move relatively slowly.

The smallest car a black Fiat Tipo, owned by one of the residents who had to be called home from work to organise a tow truck to take her car away, appeared to have taken the brunt of the collision. Although the two other saloon cars were also reportedly damaged, the young woman's car had both windscreens shattered and both front and rear bumpers damaged. The woman, who lived in St Andrews Road was told that her car would probably be a write-off.

The eyewitness who saw the accident clearly said that the elderly man's silver-coloured car appeared to not suffered any damage.

But she said the man, who was thought to be around 80, had been short of breath because of the shock and an ambulance was called for paramedics to help him recover.

The police confirmed that a vehicle had collided with three parked cars. They said the man had been sent home after being treated for shock but was uninjured.