A SHOPKEEPER from Ipswich had a lucky escape after a car ploughed through the front window of his store.Daniel King, who has owned King's Shoe Repair and Key Cutting service on Felixstowe Road for three years, said he was fortunate he closed early on Wednesdays after a blue Volvo crashed into the store just before 4pm.

A SHOPKEEPER from Ipswich had a lucky escape after a car ploughed through the front window of his store.

Daniel King, who has owned King's Shoe Repair and Key Cutting service on Felixstowe Road for three years, said he was fortunate he closed early on Wednesdays after a blue Volvo crashed into the store just before 4pm.

"Luckily I wasn't in the shop at the time because I close up on Wednesday afternoons," he said.

"Any other day and I would have been working at the machine and wouldn't have heard or seen anything. I would have been right under it. I've had a very lucky escape."

Mr King, who lives in Derwent Road, Ipswich, added: "To be honest I just feel completely sick. I'm not sure how it happened but the building is completely ruined. I'm just pleased that no one was seriously hurt."

The elderly driver of the car is believed to have been pulling out of the lay-by on the opposite side of the road when the accident happened.

He was not thought to be seriously hurt and was taken by ambulance to Ipswich Hospital.

Pc Frank Ryder from Suffolk police said the vehicle would be removed once a building officer had arrived to check that the store was structurally safe.

"When we arrived an ambulance and fire crew were already on the scene and we closed the road off so they could do their work. Luckily it doesn't appear as if the driver was badly injured," he added.

"We are just waiting for a building inspector so that he can give us the go ahead to remove the vehicle because we want to make sure that only the car comes out and no more damage is caused."