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Whitstable: Two men arrested after car crashes into Vaparettes shop in Oxford Street
11:00, 10 July 2016
Officers have arrested two men after a car crashed into an e-cigarette shop this morning.
They were alerted to the damage at 12.30am, finding bricks and debris outside Vaparettes in Oxford Street, Whitstable.
Police spokesman Steve Knight said: "Shortly afterwards they located a car they believed to have been involved in the collision and arrested two men aged 26 and 38 in connection with the incident."
An allegation of assault was also made at the time and inquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances.
Vaparettes is owned by Jim and Sharon Gadd, their son Christopher took pictures of the damaged vehicle and the wall.
He said: "We had a message from one of our customers just before 1am this morning to let us know about the shop.
"She saw the damage, stopped her car and asked a group of people if the police had been called. When they replied no, she contacted the police and flagged down a passing police car."
Mr Gadd explained the family is still waiting to hear from structural engineers to see if the building is safe to reopen this week.
He said: "With regards to the shop, there is a structural engineer due out today but as you can see by the pictures, it has taken off the whole corner and first layer of the bricks.
"The wall is unsafe and will need to be removed up to the window and we are sure that the building will be unsafe to use - therefore we are now unable to open this week.
"Luckily we are moving next door in a couple of weeks, but will have to move in sooner if necessary.
"There are also tenants in the flat above so not sure what will happen to them if the building is deemed unsafe.
"The shop was only signed to new tenants on Friday and they were so happy to be moving in."
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