A 53-year-old Port Alberni man has been charged with driving without due care and attention following a bizarre four-vehicle collision at Quality Foods in Port Alberni on Tuesday (Nov. 1).
Port Alberni RCMP and first responders were called to Quality Foods at 11 a.m. to deal with a four-car collision that began in the Quality Foods parking lot and ended with a vehicle knocking over a bus stop and a chain link fence across 10th Avenue.
The man lost control of his Nissan Xterra as he was driving through the parking lot, RCMP Cpl. Amelia Hayden explained. He accelerated at full throttle, striking a parked car and colliding with another vehicle that was pulling out of a parking stall before crossing onto 10th Avenue, knocking down a bus stop sign, bouncing off a third parked car and finally coming to rest with the front of his vehicle nearly through a fence surrounding a school field.
The driver of the Xterra and of the other mobile vehicle in the parking lot were taken to West Coast General Hospital by ambulance with minor injuries, Hayden said.
RCMP declined to identify the driver.
Two of the hit vehicles belonged to Quality Foods employees and were parked at the time, store manager Steve Sexton said. “One is totally demolished,” Sexton said. “We’re lucky no one was (seriously) hurt.”
