A customer literally arrived with a bang for a dinner reservation at Pancho’s Deli Market on the evening of Saturday, August 17, accidentally plowing from a parking space at the entrance straight through the plate glass storefront before her vehicle came to a stop in the produce section.
The popular grocery outlet and adjacent restaurant are located on the Chapala-Jocotepec highway at the east end of Riberas del Pilar.
The elderly expatriate driver, her passenger and persons inside escaped severe injury, although the frightening sound of the impact startled clients and staff alike.
“I thought there had been a collision outside on the highway until I heard screams inside the store,” proprietor Francisco “Pancho” Montes told the Guadalajara Reporter. “Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt,” he added, noting that two customers were hit by tiny shards of flying glass. A server who was gathering limes for the bar managed to jump out of the way just in the nick of time as the wooden produce display was slammed forward into a section of metal shelving filled with merchandise.
The crash, occurring at 6:20 p.m., was captured on a video surveillance camera positioned above the store’s checkout stand.
Paramedics from the Chapala Red Cross and the local fire department arrived promptly to attend to cases of minor cuts and shock. Traffic police were also on the scene to register the corresponding accident report. It was not determined whether the brakes of the SUV with Arizona plates failed or the octogenarian motorist inadvertently hit the gas pedal while parking.
The shaken driver was deeply apologetic about causing the incident, Montes said. He indicated that her insurance company will fully cover damages, including replacement of the two-by-five meter heavy gauge glass panel, as well as compensation for lost merchandise and three night watchmen he has hired to guard the business while closed at night.
The gaping hole left at the store front was still there as this newspaper went to press. Meanwhile, Montes is making plans to install a string of metal tubes filled with cement to divide parking spaces from the building’s exterior.
Similar accidents involving foreign seniors at the wheel have occurred over the years at other lakeside businesses lacking adequate parking lot protections, among them Farmacias Guadalajara in Ajijic and the at Plaza Bugambilias.