A mini-van jumped the curb and plowed through a large cement planter, metal chairs and a table before smashing into the front of Starbucks and Ricky’s All Day Grill in Sechelt on Sunday, Aug. 28.
The driver, a woman in her 70s from Sechelt, caused the accident at the Tsain-Ko shopping mall just before 8:30 a.m., after losing control of her mini-van.
“It appears that the driver of the van, who was driving through the parking lot out front of the businesses, lost control when one of her tires struck a curb as she was making a turn,” said Sunshine Coast RCMP Const. Harrison Mohr in a press release.
“After hitting the curb, the driver may have mistakenly hit the accelerator instead of the brake, causing the van to speed into the front of the building. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.”
The van came to a rest at the dividing wall between the Starbucks entrance and the entrance to Ricky’s – both doorways were bent and shattered by the impact.
Ricky’s general manager Kim Whitford was getting cash drawers ready for the day when the vehicle suddenly came crashing into the restaurant, just feet from where she was working.
“It’s a good thing she hit that big planter outside, because I’m pretty sure she would have run me right over,” Whitford said.
“She hit pretty hard and smashed out the window. I got glass blown at me and then we ran out and made sure she was OK and that there was no one under the van because that’s the first time I saw nobody sitting in that patio out there. Usually there’s somebody.”
Luckily the patio was empty, as was the restaurant that was getting set to open for the day.
It’s unclear if there were customers inside Starbucks at the time of the accident, as staff at the outlet declined to comment this week.
Shortly after the accident, Vicki MacFarlane, chief operations officer for Tsain-Ko Development Corporation, which is in charge of the mall where the accident took place, made a public YouTube video saying the repairs were being “looked after as we speak.”
At that time she expected Starbucks to be repaired and reopened by 4 p.m. on Aug. 28.
Whitford said Ricky’s had emergency repairs done by the end of the day, enabling them to reopen on Aug. 29.
Although more repairs will be needed at the restaurant during the next couple of weeks, it will remain open and serving customers during regular business hours.
“I put a big sign on the door saying we’re open during repairs, and I hope it doesn’t cause too much loss,” Whitford said.
She’s unsure what the total cost of repairs will be in the end, but the damage was fairly extensive.
RCMP have not laid any charges against the woman driving the van at this time, but Mohr said “the investigation is ongoing.”
