Robert Holdcroft had to jump for his life. Picture by Jennifer Burton.
A WINDOW cleaner has told how he was forced to leap for his life when a car hit a van, mounted a busy pavement and smashed into the front of a Ryde cafe on Tuesday.
The van driver was freed by firefighters, who removed doors from the vehicle to allow paramedics to support his neck and assess neck injuries. He was taken by ambulance to St Mary’s Hospital, Newport, and treated for whiplash.
Window cleaner Robert Holdcroft, from Broadway Crescent, Binstead, saw the silver automatic Peugeot 206 speeding toward him with an 82-year-old Ryde woman at the wheel after it smashed into the Four Seasons Cleaning Services van.
Mr Holdcroft, 29, from Broadway Crescent, Binstead, was just able to dive out of the way.
He said: “If I had dived the other way, the car would have taken off both my legs. As it was, it clipped me and all I have is a painful pulled muscle. If it had been someone less mobile, they would have been killed.
“I work for Four Seasons but was on holiday and I’d just stopped to have a chat with the van driver.”
Midwife Anya Wright, from Seaview, was in the Union Street cafe with colleague Ellie Jenkins when the car crashed into the front of the building at about midday on Tuesday.
“Mr Holdcroft was incredibly fortunate to be able to dive for cover as the car collided with the van and came across the pavement towards him. It hit the front of the cafe with a crash that shook the building.
“If it had smashed into the main window people would have been showered with broken glass,” said Mrs Wright, 47.
“Someone quickly thought to reach in and turn the ignition off but even so, the cafe quickly filled with exhaust smoke.
“It was so lucky there were not more people on the pavement.”
Union Street businessman Michael Boyle said: “The Peugeot first hit a silver car on the other side of the road before hitting the white van, spinning it around and crashing into the entrance of Room 4.
“If the car had not crashed into the van, the scene may have been catastrophic, as the Peugeot could have demolished the front of Room 4.
“Despite the spectacle of the incident, there was no damage to the building and Room 4 re-opened for lunch.”
A police spokesman confirmed that, to date, no-one had been arrested.
Reporter: richardw@iwcpmail.co.uk