Costa Coffee car crash leaves one woman dead

A woman has died and five other people are injured, four seriously, after a car ploughed into a Costa coffee shop in Kent.

The car crashed through the window of the café in Westerham, near Sevenoaks in Kent, shortly before 10.30am, Kent Police said.

Sally Pendleton said she walked past the scene minutes after the crash on her way to church with her grandmother and uncle.

She told BBC News: “There were about 12 people who were outside, some injured, some were in shock and the man was still in the car.”

She added: “He seemed OK so at this point we didn’t really realise that anyone had been badly injured, even though it was a crazy thing to have happened, because, of course, as you can see from the photos, there is actually a wall that goes along the bottom so it must have been going at some speed to crash straight through the window and quite a way into the shop.”

A spokeswoman for South East Coast Ambulance Service said: “Our clinicians treated six patients in total, including one patient who was sadly pronounced as deceased at the scene. Five further patients were treated at the scene and then taken to hospital.

“Two patients, an adult male and female, were taken by ambulance to St George’s Hospital in London, both with serious injuries.

“Two further patients, an adult male and female, were taken by ambulance to the Princess Royal Hospital in Farnborough – again both with serious injuries.

“An adult female with minor injuries was also taken by ambulance to Pembury Hospital.”

Kent Fire and Rescue said it had released two people from the car and had initially had five crews at the scene.