A pedestrian has had a "lucky" escape after a ute ploughed into a restaurant on a busy street in Dubbo in western New South Wales.
Key points:
- CCTV footage shows a pedestrian walking past a restaurant moments before a ute drives into it
- The restaurant's owners say it is lucky it was closed at the time
- It could take months to repair the building as the damaged panels are "rare" and "very hard to get from India"
CCTV vision shows a man walking along the footpath past an Indian restaurant on Bultje Street moments before a ute turns to park, but instead mounts the kerb and crashes through the front window of the restaurant.
Owners of the Royal India Restobar, Pradip Rai and Pratap Dey Sarkar, said they were relieved the restaurant was closed at the time of the crash, just after 10:30am on Tuesday.
"We're lucky that nobody got hurt," Mr Rai said.
"If it had been in the evening it could have been a big accident."
Mr Rai said as many as 18 patrons could have been sitting in the area where the ute ended up.
"If it had happened after 5pm we are generally booked out. You can't imagine," he said.
The ute missed a cafe and a real estate agent on either side of the restaurant.
Police and paramedics attended the scene to investigate the damage.
NSW Police said the driver of the ute was a man aged in his eighties and was not injured.
The owners said they would remain open for takeaway orders as the kitchen was not affected, but it was unclear when it will reopen for dine-in.
"We've called a builder to secure the property because it is completely open. You can't leave it like that," Mr Rai said.
"It will take a long time to fix everything. The panels that are damaged are very rare to find and very hard to get from India.
"It took six months to get those panels and they're all damaged now."
Police have opened an investigation into the crash.