A5

By Charlene MacKenzie

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

SUSSEX - A late night drive ended up with an unexpected visit to the Dixie Lee Fried Chicken restaurant at Four Corners for two people Aug. 24.

1 of 2

A sign left over from the Dixie Lee's renovations following a September 2006 fire was put to use to inform customers the restaurant is again closed for renovationsÑthis time because a car drove through the wall and into the kitchen.

RCMP and the Sussex Fire Department were called to the scene after a car took a speedy shortcut through the Four Corners Irving parking lot, hit a curb, crossed Wheeler Road and entered the restaurant through the wall to the left of the entrance.

Security guard Trevor Hayes of Jadal Security said first responders were on the scene at about 2:30 a.m.

"The car was in right up to its back wheels. There were still people in the vehicle and one was taken to hospital," he said.

"They went through the kitchen, so the fire department had to secure the gas lines, and the hydro was shut off."

Jadal Security patrols Kingsco Transport and the Dixie Lee building next door, as Kingsco owns both buildings, said Hayes.

The car was towed away shortly before 4 a.m., Police took pictures and measurements in an effort to determine exactly how the accident occurred.

Faint skidmarks from one wheel were visible leading up to the wall. The hole was boarded up and a large sign, left over from the restaurant's renovations after a fire in September 2006, proclaimed the Dixie Lee would be "reopening soon."

Inside the restaurant, manager Suzy Voutour waited for insurance representatives amid a mess of scattered stainless-steel equipment, hanging wires and insulation and wrecked walls. Broken pop bottles made a dark sticky mess across the floor.

A tourist visitor information centre in the same building was also closed following the accident.

Voutour could not say when the restaurant would be reopening.