Van ploughs into Sainsbury’s Chadwell Heath narrowly missing pensioner

An 81-year-old woman escaped injured when a van smashed into a supermarket this morning

The pensioner was hit when an unmanned van which ploughed into the front doors of a supermarket.

She was saved from serious injury when the white Renault Kangoo Van was wedged in between

the sliding doors of Sainsbury’s supermarket in High Road, Chadwell Heath, at around 11.15am today.

Debbie Brown, newspaper sales executive for Archant, who witnessed the incident, said: “A van in the car of Sainsbury’s went through the store and knocked someone over.”

Store manager Steve Thompson said: “The van was parked and it looks like the handbrake did not click in properly.

“The van rolled into the front of the store and in doing so it literally knocked over an 81-year-old lady.

“The ambulance staff checked her but she was absolutely fine. The doors saved her.”

A police spokeswoman confirmed that officers had been called at 11.21am and an “unoccupied white Renault Kangoo Van had rolled into Sainsbury and become wedged in the doorway.” She also confirmed that the woman did not need hospital treatment.

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We sent a single responder in a car and an ambulance crew to the incident where staff treated one patient at the scene.”