The Dig This gardening store on Oak Bay Avenue is open today but hoping for walk-in traffic only. On Friday morning, a taxi crashed through the store’s front door after running a red light and hitting two cars at the intersection of Foul Bay Road and Oak Bay Avenue.

Store owner Elizabeth Cull posted a photo of the crash on the store’s Facebook page, writing: “A crashing start to our Boxing Week sales! We will be open for business [today] planned. But no drive through business, please!”

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Cull was called just after 9 a.m. by her alarm company saying the door alarm was going off.

“We just assumed it was someone rattling the door to see if we were open,” Cull said.

“So we drove up and we were shocked to discover there was a taxicab right through my front door.”

Victoria police, fire and B.C. Ambulance were called to the scene at 9:04 a.m. to find the taxi sticking out of the gardening store.

Two other vehicles were badly damaged and one of the drivers was taken to hospital by B.C. Ambulance with minor injuries, said Staff Sgt. Tom Sawyer.

Luckily, the store was closed and no one was walking on the sidewalk at the time, Sawyer said.

The intersection was cordoned off as the vehicles were towed away.

Victoria police said the taxi driver will be getting a ticket for running the red light, but the taxi driver told his boss that he had the green and another driver was at fault.

The taxi was not carrying any passengers.

Victoria Taxi general manager Sean Convy said the driver was in the middle of his shift, which started at 4:30 a.m.

“According to the owner [of the cab], the taxi was on a green light, the other party was on the red light,” Convy said.

He said the driver will be filling out an accident report and Victoria Taxi will also likely receive a copy of the Victoria police accident report so that ICBC can determine who was at fault.

Cull was thankful that no one was hurt. Few products were damaged because items aren’t kept by the door.

A construction company was on site within an hour to build a temporary front door and wall.

“There was nobody in the store or on the sidewalk, so it could have been much worse,” Cull said.

kderosa@timescolonist.com



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