A FAMILY whose supermarket was severely damaged when a car smashed into it has vowed to carry on, despite facing up to the second setback this year.

The Coombes family who own and run the Red Hill Supermarket in Prestwich Avenue, Nunnery Wood, Worcester, were alerted that the alarm had gone off shortly before 2am yesterday, only to find thousands of pounds of damage caused.

Graham Coombes contacted his son Roy and both headed into Worcester from their Droitwich homes.

Six months ago, cash and cigarettes were stolen after a break-in, but Mr Coombes said this latest incident was far worse.

"We thought the alarm had gone off probably because some kids were rattling the door," said Mr Graham Coombes.

Hand grenade

"But when I arrived it looked like it had been hit by a hand grenade," he said.

"When I saw it I just felt sick," said his son Roy.

However, Mr Coombes senior said the family, who have owned the shop for two years, will continue to trade.

"Now we just have to carry on the best we can," he said.

The family added that they did not yet know what had been stolen and the car had destroyed a cigarette machine and smashed through racks of various spirits kept behind the counters.

The counters themselves were pushed forward a few meters by the impact of the crash, and one of the cash registers was destroyed.

"You can still see the tyre marks on the shop floor," said Roy.

Bottles of champagne and whisky were thrown to the other side of the shop after the crash and bottles were even sent rolling out along the street.

"There was a bottle of champagne outside my front lawn this morning," said Tina Bawlch, a neighbour who witnessed the car drive away.

Mrs Bawlch said residents were woken in the early hours by a loud crash as the car ploughed through the three panels of the shop's front.

"No one would have been able to sleep through the sound of that crash," she said.

Mrs Bawlch said the car must have reversed into the shop front.

"I saw the car speed off down Liverpool Road," she said.

"It was an old-style white Ford Escort. It was being driven by a white youth in a pale baseball cap.

"It's such a shame, they are such a nice family."