Car-damaged reception at hall to reopen

A north Shropshire town hall reception will reopen this week three months after a car ploughed into the building, injuring an elderly couple.

The reception at Market Drayton Town Hall suffered extensive damage.

It happened when a car came out of the Frogmore Road car park and moun- ted the pavement before crashing into the pedestrians and the town hall.

The elderly woman was trapped under the vehicle and had to be resuscitated while her husband was thrown from his wheelchair on October 20 last year.

Town clerk Edward Davies today said following major repairs totalling about £10,000 the reception was set to open to the public again on Wednesday.

Mr Davies added: "Although it meant we had to close the reception area, we did have a fallback as we could go back to the old reception.

"The extent of the damage was that the wall facing the car park which was damaged had to be taken down completely and the steel structure had to be checked."

He added both internal and external walls had to be rebuilt, the radiator which was on the damaged wall had to be replaced, new carpets had to be put in and repairs had to be made to the electrical system.

He said he was pleased the reception would be open once again and added it would include a reception desk, a table for the public and a host of leaflets and information. It would also free up the old temporary reception to convert it back to a small committee room.