Tail of two runaways

12:11pm Thursday 1st May 2008

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DEVIZES art gallery owner Juliet Reid didn't know whether to be relieved or horrified when her blue VW Polo rolled away and into the front of a video shop.

A classic motorbike was crushed in the incident, which happened in St John's Street, Devizes, at around 11am on Monday.

Ms Reid had pulled up outside the Wine Street Gallery to unload some pictures for her new exhibition.

She said: "I went upstairs and spoke to my colleague and when I got back downstairs, the car had gone.

"I thought it must have been stolen, then I saw it down the road resting against the front of the video store.

"I was mortified. I turned cold to think what could have happened."

No one was hurt and very little damage done. There was a blue smear across the front of the video store where the car had come to rest and there was some damage to the front of the Polo.

The car had struck a classic 1100cc motorbike parked in front of the store. Ms Reid was given a £30 on-the-spot fine for failing to apply the handbrake.

In Marlborough a Mini Clubman rolled across the High Street and crashed into a bollard.

The owner, a woman from Hungerford, had parked on the top side by Blockbusters video store on Friday morning.

Miraculously the runaway car did not hit any other vehicles or hurt anyone.

The woman returned to find a small crowd around her car examining the smashed back doors and bumper. She said she had left the car with its handbrake fully on.

But neither accident was in the same league as a car that went out of control in Devizes Market Place in June 2006 and crashed into the Market Cross.

Fire and ambulance crews were called and the driver and her passenger had to be treated for their injuries after the crash. The middle-aged driver said she had been the victim of road rage and this had caused her to lose concentration.