'I'm thankful no students were killed' – owner of crash Centra

Car that crashed into supermarket at Victoria Cross in Cork had been reported stolen earlier

Garda detectives are understood to be trawling CCTV in the area to identify the driver of the car that crashed into the Centra at Cork's Victoria Cross early on Saturday. Picture: Dan Linehan

A supermarket owner said he’s thankful a car which careered into his premises didn’t do so 24 hours earlier as it could have killed students walking home in the early hours of the morning from rag week celebrations.

Ger Hennessy, who owns the Centra outlet between UCC and Victoria Cross in Cork City, said video footage showed the car travelling at such speed it mounted protective bollards outside the front of his premises (which are used to prevent ram raids) before smashing through the plate glass doors.

He said that, incredibly, the car was then able to reverse out of the supermarket. However, it was found abandoned a short distance away by gardaí.

The devastated interior of the Centra store at Victoria Cross after a car crashed into it.

Mr Hennessy said one of the car’s registration plates was found inside the premises by gardaí. The car had been reported stolen.

It had crashed into the supermarket after travelling from the UCC side.

Mr Hennessy said he got a call from gardaí about the crash at 4.15am last Saturday and went to survey the damage. He said: 

The whole front of the shop was demolished.

"I’m just grateful that this didn’t happen 24 hours earlier as rag week was still on and we know that students would be making their way home past the supermarket at that time in the morning. 

"That's the main thing we are thankful for. 

"A lot of the students in the area are our customers and they’re great people." 

When he arrived at the scene, he described it being like “a bomb site.” Mr Hennessy said he was fortunate to have expert tradesmen who were on the site quickly to help him reopen the supermarket again by 4pm on Saturday.

He said a considerable amount of work still has to be carried out to properly repair the building, which is likely to cost tens of thousands of euro.

Centra store proprietor Ger Hennessy said: 'I’m just grateful that this didn’t happen 24 hours earlier as rag week was still on.' This photo shows some of the bollards the car crashed over. Picture: Dan Linehan

Garda detectives are understood to be trawling CCTV in the area in an effort to identify the driver of the vehicle and any occupants who may have been inside it and to see in which directions they fled the scene.

A spokesman for the Garda Press Office said that no injuries had been reported to them as a result of the crash and that local garda “investigations are ongoing” into the incident.

It is understood that at this stage gardaí are not treating the incident as a ram raid by thieves intent on stealing products from the supermarket.