Car crashes into Winchester gym New Energy Fitness

New Energy Fitness gym in Middle Brook Street first had a Ford Fiesta plough through the glass in 2016 as a female driver put her foot down on the accelerator, mistaking it for the brake pedal.

Last Monday, a third vehicle went into the glass window, where two more bollards had been requested from the city council to prevent such incidents.

Distance from car park to Energy Fitness

Owner of Energy Fitness Helen Moseley had been in contact with the council to place bollards in front of the car park to prevent damage to the building, and while three bollards were put in place, an additional two had not been fitted.

Ms Moseley said: "The council doesn't see there is a problem because they've made no changes. The impact is high for us because we live in a daily situation where we have no control of a hazard.

"To come back to us now on the same email regarding the forth and fifth bollard shows there is no urgency or says it's important or has a safety issue attached to it. We're very lucky people haven't been injured but people are mortified to what goes on here.

"At the moment, it's about paper work and reputation that we have but when an injury arises, it's a different story and it feels like we've got no control over that. If something dreadful happens away from anything fitness related, I'm not trained for that. That's what it feels like at the moment, so it's getting quite wearing."

Ms Moseley said no bollards were put in place until after the second incident, where five bollard markings were put in place but only three were put up. A police report stated that if the forth and fifth bollards had been put in place, a further incident would not have impacted the building.

In a comment, Winchester City Council said:

“Winchester City Council installed bollards in 2018 having listened to concerns from the team at New Energy Fitness. We remain committed to the safety of all residents, and are working with Helen Moseley to increase the number of bollards outside of the gym. Works had been scheduled to start very soon but have been delayed due to the availability of materials.”