Hit-and-run driver causes thousands in damage

A WOMAN appealed for witnesses last night after a hit-and-run motorist caused several thousand euro worth of damage to her mother’s new car.

Orla Drummond’s mother parked her 08-registered Honda in the car park of Douglas Shopping Centre in Cork just before 6pm last Friday night.

She parked the car, which had been bought from a local dealer just a week before, correctly and legally between the white lines of a parking space in the car park adjoining the Tesco outlet.

She spent just over an hour shopping in Tesco and returned to her vehicle just after 7pm.

Ms Drummond said her mother was appalled when she saw the extensive damage to the car.

The front right wing had been severely scraped and damaged, the bonnet was crumpled, the grill was damaged, and the front bumper was ripped off. The car had to be towed away.

Repair costs are being assessed but Ms Drummond said the family expect the bill to run to several thousand euro.

The incident was reported to shopping centre security but Ms Drummond said nobody came out to view the scene.

“Nobody bothered to come out to look at the car,” she said.

“They said they would contact her over the weekend but we haven’t heard anything since.”

Builders working on the shopping centre extension just shrugged their shoulders, she said.

And gardaí said that there is no CCTV coverage in this area of the car park.

Ms Drummond appealed for witnesses to contact gardaí in Douglas.

“There must have been an almighty crash,” she said.

“It’s hard to believe that it was another car which did all this damage.”

The shopping centre and car park are owned by the Love family’s firm, the Shipton Group.

Spokesperson Feargal Killoury said although the group does not take responsibility for damage to property within the car park, it is treating the incident very eriously.

He said the shopping centre manager has been in contact with the Drummonds, and that contractors working on the site have been asked to come forward with any information they may have.

He said he feared the damage was caused by a motorist taking a short cut through the car park.

He confirmed that the car park, in what is the second oldest shopping centre in Ireland, does not have CCTV coverage.

“But we will have it in the new centre,” said Mr Killoury.

The shopping centre is undergoing major construction work. A new extension is planned, as well as a multi-storey car park and a new road which will run parallel to the South Link Road.