For it to have happened once would be nothing more than rare misfortune. But for it to happen again quite so soon afterwards is a remarkable coincidence.

Eastern Daily Press: The scene of the accident after a car crashed through the front of an insurance brokers in Poringland. Picture: Julia TynanThe scene of the accident after a car crashed through the front of an insurance brokers in Poringland. Picture: Julia Tynan

For the second time in less than 24 hours, a Norfolk business was counting the cost after a car smashed into the front of its building.

The Golden Star pub in Norwich was damaged when a Nissan Almera with two young children in the back crashed into the bar on Friday afternoon, narrowly missing drinkers. On Saturday, a similar incident unfolded in Poringland.

At around 11.30am, a Vauxhall Corsa smashed into the glass-fronted Poringland Insurance Services.

In neither incident was anyone hurt, but on both occasions it appears to have been a remarkable escape.

Richard Beevor, the manager of the insurance brokers, said a female member of staff would normally have been sitting at the desk destroyed by the car but luckily the office was empty following a recent decision to not open on a Saturday morning.

Mr Beevor, who manages the office, a subsidiary of Drayton Insurance Group, said: 'In the last few months we did open on a Saturday morning and there would've been a woman working at that desk and she would've been killed without a doubt.

'She turned up on Saturday and was in tears as I think she realised if she had have been at work she wouldn't be here any more.' Mr Beevor said all calls are being re-routed to the Drayton office and it is hoped the business will be able to operate on a limited basis from today.

Pictures of the damage were taken by Mr Beevor's sister Julia Tynan, 44, from nearby Framingham Earl, for insurance purposes.

Mrs Tynan, a medical secretary at Spire in Norwich, said: 'He's [the driver] gone right to the back of the shop and the desk she sits has been completely obliterated.'

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service Trust said it attended and treated two people at the scene for shock. They were not taken to hospital.

A spokesman for Norfolk police confirmed they also attended the crash and said the building was being assessed to see if it was structurally dangerous or not. The spokesman said the driver appeared uninjured.

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