STAFF had to be evacuated from Rackhams (now House of Fraser) in Cirencester Market Place when a car ploughed straight into the front of the building in September 1997.

Shortly before 11am one Wednesday morning, the driver of a silver VW Golf lost control of her vehicle, damaging three cars along the way before being halted by the shop’s glass store front.

While attempting to park, the Cirencester woman in her 50s, shunted a parked Nissan backwards into a parked Peugeot, scratching a parked VW Polo in the process. 

Thankfully no-one was seriously injured. 

Angela Hodgson who worked on the cosmetic counter at Rackhams described her shock when the car hit the building. 

“It was pretty frightening. There was a horrific bang. The noise was absolutely horrendous. I thought it was a bus that hit the front,” she said. “We are just glad everybody is alright.”

And within half an hour, staff were allowed back into the store, after firefighters checked for structural damage. 

Unlike the recent van parking incident in Cirencester and a hit and run in Leigh, there was no running away from this disastrous parking effort.