ZAIDA GLIBANOVIC
By ZAIDA GLIBANOVIC
FOR the second time in its history, a car has found its way through the door of Light and Shade Traralgon’s shop front. On Monday, October 23, at about 10.30am, a car accidentally accelerated into the front of the Traralgon store along Hotham Street. Current owners Margaret and Bruce Bell had quite the shock of their life for the second time. The Bells have been at the store for a decade and in that time have seen two cars fly through their shop front on two separate occasions. “The old story that lightning doesn’t strike twice – apparently it does,” Mr Bell said. “We’ve got a lot of stock damage, we’re just working it out as we speak, but who knows – probably $20,000-$30,000 worth of damage.” Despite the financial loss of the incident, Mr Bell was happy that nobody was hurt in the incident. “Myself, my wife and the staff members that were with us on the Monday were at the back counter, nobody was hurt, nobody was injured,” he said. Back to business, the Bell’s quickly cleaned up the wreckage and are back operating as usual. “They’ve already put in a temporary door and we should have a replacement in a week or so … we’ve got a fantastic insurance company,” Mr Bell said. “We’re still operating, we’re still open for business.” Light and Shade has sat within the bustling crowd on Hotham St for more than 25 years. The business sells quality lighting and a unique range of lamps, ceiling fans and giftware. In November 2011, a car travelled through the front of the shop, smashing glass and tens of thousands of dollars worth of stock on its destructive path all the way through the building. “I’d love the council to put bollards up around town or even those old parking metres up again, wouldn’t that be a nice idea,” Mr Bell laughed sarcastically. “I just thought after last time surely it couldn’t happen again.” In the last incident in 2011, Light and Shade Traralgon were ready for Christmas and coincidentally, their Santa Claus display also received a beating in the incident. “Why knock over poor Santa. Santa got hit again,” Mr Bell quipped. Taking the uncanny coincidences as comedic, Mr Bell couldn’t help but laugh at his own unluckiness. “We bought the shop four weeks before the first car accident,” he said. “So, I’m either the unluckiest retailer in Australia or the luckiest one. I’m just not sure.” Mr Bell said it was a relief the incident didn’t occur at a busier time. “If this had been a busy day or even any busy Saturday afternoon it probably would’ve hit someone,” he said. Light and Shade Traralgon’s owners took time to thank emergency crews for their swift response. “They were fantastic as usual, the ambulance, the fire brigade the police all turned up” he said. “They were excellent, very fast, very prompt, very professional.” With his daughter’s wedding to worry about, Mr Bell light-heartedly said the incident wasn’t the “best timing ever, but Santa is okay and that’s all that matters.” A Victoria police spokesperson said: “This was a car going through a glass door at a local business. The driver and workers were uninjured, and there was no structural damage.” The incident, that could have ended badly, resulted in no injuries, with staff quite shaken up but safe and sound.
