This is the moment a woman in a BMW wrecked £2,000 worth of antiques when she tried to park outside a shop – and hit the accelerator instead of the brake.
The motorist, with a personalised plate, was seen on CCTV slowly pulling into the car park by the store which had items on display outside.
But she suddenly lurched forward instead of back and smashed into a stone wall, taking out two concrete statues, a garden bench, lounger chair and several planters.
The woman – wearing a black knee-length coat and red top – reversed with her number plate hanging off and got out to inspect the damage to her car.
After some hesitation, she walked to the front entrance of the shop but returned to her car seconds later and drove off without leaving her details.
The owner of the Acreman St Antiques and Interiors has now released the CCTV in a bid to catch the woman who is being hunted by police.
Part of her car – believed to be a dark 3-series BMW estate – were left at the scene in Sherborne, Dorset.
But businesswoman Gill Norman said she had so far been unable to read the woman’s number plate because it was obscured by the sun’s glare.
Gill said: “It was an accident – if she had just come in and told us it would have been on her insurance but now it’s criminal damage.
“She hit the accelerator instead of the brake and shot forward into the stone wall taking out two concrete statues, a garden bench, a lounger chair and various garden planters, adding up to £2,000 worth of damage.
“We think she may have been before. Many of our customers come and browse with their partners and come back on their own to pick something up.
“We know that the car had personalised number plates – the first section of the plate has fewer characters than normal.
“Unfortunately we can’t make it out on the CCTV footage because the sun is shining into the camera, creating a glare.
“Hopefully the police will be able to enhance it.”
She said the damage included statues of two nude women, a wrought iron three-seat garden bench, lounger chair, smaller statue and some garden planters.
She added that her colleague Alastair MacAndrew heard a loud bang around 10.30am on Saturday January 21 but the woman had gone by the time he went outside.
Dorset police said: “We were called out to reports of a failure to stop following a collision on Acreman Street at around 10am on January 21.
“The driver caused damage to two statues and a garden bench. We cannot confirm the driver’s gender at this stage, but it is believed the car was a dark BMW.”
