Shocking footage shows the moment a car crashes into the window of a restaurant - narrowly avoiding staff.
Owner Gultekin Polat said it sounded 'like a bomb going off' when a Silver Jaguar careered off the road and ploughed into his business in Warrington.
A man, 31, has been arrested on suspicion of drink driving in connection with the incident.
A dramatic CCTV clip shows the terrifying moment the motor hit a curb before crashing into Rokka Bar & Grill, leaving glass and debris covering the pavement.
And footage from inside showed how a “lucky” worker was seconds away from a serious injury after she finished cleaning a window table just before it struck.
Gultekin, who estimated the crashed caused around £60,000 worth of damage, said: “We thought it was a bomb going off, the way it was making noise.
"I didn’t see what happened, but after that I was shocked – everybody was shocked. We ran outside to help the people and check if they were ok.
“Two ladies left 20 seconds before who were sitting on that table where the window broke. And one of my staff went to the table and was clearing the glasses.
"She was a few seconds away from being hit. It was very lucky that nobody was injured.”
Gultekin said it was also very fortunate that a group of young people who had passed in front of the restaurant 13 seconds before the crash were not hurt.
He added: “You can see on the video, which was so lucky, there were four teenagers walking nearby the restaurant.
“If they had stopped walking, 13 seconds later the car would have crushed them easily. But they left.
“It was a busy restaurant, and we were lucky that customers left early on that Friday night.
“They came early, they ate early and they were gone. And there were only six people left and the staff working in the restaurant.”
Firefighters and paramedics attended the scene after the incident, which happened at 9.30pm on Friday, February 9.
Cheshire Police said the male driver had been arrested after he initially attempted to flee the scene following the crash.
And his roadside breath test later showed he had 90mcg of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath in their body – when the limit is just 35mcg.
A spokesperson said: “To our surprise, the driver attempted to leave the scene with the passengers, however he was detained by officers nearby and provided a positive sample of breath, blowing over 90 at the roadside.
“Whilst we dealt with the scene of the collision, the driver was arrested by our response officers for various offences and initially taken to hospital to get him medically checked over before being taken to custody to be interviewed for the offences when he had sobered up."
They added: “This is why drink driving is an offence, and completely unacceptable in 2024, it can have such an impact on others, it still baffles us why people continue to risk lives.”
