As if there was an angel on his shoulder. That’s how Mohamed El Yazidi feels after a customer drove his fish shop on the Piusplein in Bergen op Zoom and approached him in a fraction. “The moment you realize that the counter that weighs more than a thousand kilos has been shifted, you know that you are really lucky that you are still there.”
It has to penetrate him for a while. The consequences could have been great if that heavy counter had not been there. “You see a car driving into your building with an enormous speed,” says El Yazidi. “At first you think:” What is happening now “? And before you know it, that car is in front of you. You block and don’t know what happens to you. We are lucky that the counter was strong enough to parry the car. It could also have been ready.”
He has remained physically unharmed, just like with his brother with whom he stood behind the counter. “But I do feel a bit of vibrations and feel some light in my head. I also have a little headache.” The adrenaline also feels the co-owner.
Full on gas
Around eleven o’clock in the morning a customer bought fish and then got into their car with his wife. They drove back, but hit another car. Out of panic, the man forgot to use his handbrake and kicked it full on the gas instead of on the brake. The car ended up in the fish shop in its entirety and destroyed the front. At that time there were no customers in the store, but the damage is great.
The driver and his wife have received first aid. “Sir was allowed to go home, so I assume it is going well,” says Mohamed. “I’m not angry either. It wasn’t on purpose anyway.”