A BUSINESS owner who hoped to go into 2021 with a "fresh start" has told how it has all been "taken away in a split second" after a suspected drink driver collided with her shop.

Michelle Roundhill, who owns A Piece of The Past on Bolton Road, received a call shortly after midnight on Wednesday to say a car had crashed into her shop.

"It was literally one of the neighbours saying 'There's a car plummeted into your shop window, it's on fire, you need to get down here now'," she said.

When she arrived on the scene Michelle heard emergency services telling people to move further away in case the car exploded.

Emergency services - police, fire and ambulance crews - were called at 12.05am and found a red Vauxhall Astra with its engine smashed up against the front of Michelle's shop.

The driver of the car, a 33-year-old male, was arrested at the scene and taken into police custody.

There were no reported injuries, West Yorkshire Police confirmed.

Michelle had recently moved from her old premises to Bolton Road in August and had recently started popular live shopping events and building a new customer base despite Covid-19 pressures.

Now, she is unsure when she can repair the shop front and resume trading.

Speaking to the Telegraph & Argus, she said: "The structural surveyor said it's ok to walk into. It's not going to fall down on us but it's going to need a new shop front, a new internal wall.

"The impact of him hitting the shop window, it's pushed the internal wall back by about six inch. The internal wall is full of big cracks.

"There's quite a lot of damage on the inside. The windows are cracked.

"It's been pretty tough.

"We moved from that shop because it just wasn't working there and took on a new venture and we manage to turn everything around and just got going.

"We were making some money which we haven't done for three years so it was nice to see a bit of money coming in and finally getting new customers and it's now been taken away in a split second.

"It's not just a fresh start. Personally I'm going through quite a lot. I just want to be successful to provide for my two girls I've got.

"It was getting to the point where it was like, I can actually get a wage even if it was just £50.

"I've worked really really hard. I thought, great this is the turn around I need.

"Things have been really tough financially.

"It's took its toll on me.

"It used to be a funeral directors before we took it on and I had three customers who had come in with funerals and they find it comforting to visit the shop and have a little chat. I'm there for the community really.

"It's not just been taken away for me, it's my customers as well and the kids that come in - they get excited about getting bath bombs, there's nothing like that around here. All for the sake of somebody getting behind the wheel.

"It's been an awful year for everybody, it's been horrendous but I was looking forward to a new year.

"I've got a lot of plans and it's just been taken away like the shop window in time for Valentines."