MICHAEL OWEN

A TAXI driver and his two passengers had a lucky escape after their car became airborne and smashed through the front windows of a city business during peak hour last night.

Witnesses said the Adelaide Independent Taxi cab was turning from West Tce into Waymouth St at about 5.45pm when it was hit by a Holden Apollo travelling south on West Tce. The taxi then smashed through the front windows of Kresta Blinds & Curtains at 60 West Tce.
The store was closed at the time.

Theresa Parisi, who was in a car behind the taxi and herself waiting to turn into Waymouth St, said the taxi driver appeared to accelerate when his cab was hit by the other car. "I've never seen anything like it," she said.

"He was turning slowly but then when he was hit he seemed to accelerate and got airborne as he went over several rocks in the front garden of the shop. "He then went flying straight into the shop's front windows."

SA Ambulance paramedics were first on the scene and said it was lucky no one was injured or killed. The two passengers in the taxi, young businessmen who did not want to be identified, said they felt "very lucky to be able to walk away unhurt".

The taxi driver Sultani Mohammed Ali, 56, had been driving the cab for its owner, Arif Yusufi, for just one month said: "It is very lucky no one is injured or killed - I am a bit shaken still."

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21451720-2682,00.html