Repair shop owner ‘happy to be alive’ after seafood truck crashes in
Rick McMullin’s first thought was his auto repair shop was exploding.
“I saw a blur, then the crash; glass (smashing); then the door blew open; papers blew off the table,” said McMullin, owner of Ricky Ratchets Auto Repair.
The seafood truck that plowed into the shop on Clarke Road earlier this month is one among a number of crashes in London this year involving vehicles colliding with buildings.
A Mississauga man faces several charges in the crash, including careless driving and failing to surrender an insurance card, London police said.
Damage from the crash is estimated at $45,000 but it could have been worse, McMullin said.
He said he and his wife were going over invoices around 7 p.m. on Dec. 20 when the truck smashed through the bay door, ripping out a hoist and sending it flying, bending battery shelves and destroying tire racks and tools. The couple and their employees often work or stand in the area decimated by the truck, McMullin said.
“We’re very happy we’re alive and we’re trying to make the best of it,” he said, adding they plan a door crasher special next month.
But instead of taking a planned vacation with his family, McMullin spent the holidays consulting with insurance companies and cleaning up, he said.
“I spent the whole holiday here.”
A driver was charged in a crash late Sunday that caused about $15,000 in damage to a vacant unit in a plaza at 1025 Wellington Rd., London police said. After striking the unit, the driver left and and was pulled over on Bradley Avenue.
A 50-year-old London woman was charged with impaired driving.
On Oct. 27, a car struck two utility poles and two buildings on Blackfriars Street, including the Society Cafe that opened the week before and a home across the street where a woman was sleeping. The car ended up in the home’s living room.
A 20-year-old man was charged with impaired driving, police said.
On Aug. 14, a car going the wrong way on Queens Avenue slammed into a home on Woodman Avenue, severing a natural gas line. Moments later the neighbourhood was rocked by a massive explosion that left a firefighter with serious injuries, forced the evacuation of more than 200 homes and caused as much as $15 million in damage.
Daniella Leis, 23, of Kitchener faces 12 charges, including four counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm, in the crash.
In June, the Nova Era Bakery in a plaza at Florence and Egerton streets closed after a vehicle plowed into it in the middle of the night. It was the second time the bakery had been hit by vehicle.
A pair of siblings and their parents has reopened the popular shop.
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