AN elderly driver whose car ploughed through an Ipswich shop window today said he was puzzled as to how the accident happened.Claud Bickers, of Beatrice Close, escaped serious injury when he drove his blue Volvo through the front of the shoe repair shop in Felixstowe Road just before 4pm yesterday .

AN elderly driver whose car ploughed through an Ipswich shop window today said he was puzzled as to how the accident happened.

Claud Bickers, of Beatrice Close, escaped serious injury when he drove his blue Volvo through the front of the shoe repair shop in Felixstowe Road just before 4pm yesterday .

However the accident caused significant damage to the front of the shop.

Speaking today after having a night to reflect on the unusual crash, Mr Bickers, 84, said he could not understand how it happened.

"I was pulling away from the lay-by when I just went straight on across the road into the shop.

"I was a little shaken. I am relieved no one was in the shop or on the pavement."

Mr Bickers claimed it was the first accident he has been involved in during more than 40 years on the road, after getting his first car in 1963.

He added: "When I was going through the shop it was just fear. When I was okay I felt relief especially that no one else was hurt.

"It was over in seconds."

Mr Bickers had visited his wife at Minsmere House and had stopped at Brittania in Felixstowe Road prior to the accident.

Clare Phillips, 23, who works at the building society, said: "My colleague served him. I didn't see the accident but I heard a bang.

"He had been in before the accident and had left his walking stick behind."

Daniel King, owner of King's Shoe Repair and Key Cutting service, escaped serious injury because his shop was closed for half day trading yesterday.

"Any other day and I would have been working at the machine and wouldn't have heard or seen anything," Mr King said.

"I would have been right under it. I've had a very lucky escape."

Mr Bickers was pulling out of a lay-by on the opposite side of the road when the accident happened.

He suffered an injury to his shoulder while a passer-by who tried to help him is believed to have suffered a hand injury.

The ambulance service said that person declined to be treated by ambulance officers and was instead conveyed to Ipswich Hospital by relatives.

Mr Bickers was given oxygen at the scene and was taken to Ipswich Hospital but was back home by 6pm yesterday.

After surveying the damage to his shop, Mr King, of Derwent Road, Ipswich, said: "To be honest I just feel completely sick. I'm not sure how it happened but the building is completely ruined.

"I'm just pleased that no one was seriously hurt."

Meanwhile, an HGV overturned on Orttewell Road in Bury St Edmunds yesterday after colliding with a bridge.

The lorry driver escaped with minor injuries sustained during the accident which happened around 11.10am.