A car smashed into a shopfront in a dramatic crash that woke up the neighbourhood.

The car ploughed into closed corner shop Jupider in the early hours of this morning, causing structural damage to the building.

This shop has been closed since it was ram-raided in January of last year.

Workers were seen inside the building in the wake of the incident, working to make sure the structure was secure so that the car could be removed.

The crash occurred on St Catherine's Road by the junction with Bond Road at around 5.45am.

The second car was recovered shortly after the crashThe second car was recovered shortly after the crash (Image: Emma Nichols)

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Police, fire engines and ambulance were on the scene, and the road was closed whilst emergency services dealt with the situation.

Emma Nichols, a former nurse, lives nearby and was the first bystander on the scene.

She said: "We heard the bang and I went out. I did a preliminary survey on the person that looked most injured, and emergency services arrived very quickly.

"The two gents in the car that went into the shop had to be taken to hospital, but not with serious injuries.

"There were two fire engines there to close the road because one of the cars was a hybrid.

"I was hoping for a lie-in this morning, it is a shocking thing to happen."

Emma says that this junction is prone to crashes, having seen three occur in the last year.

"We hear and see near misses three to five times a week on that junction," she added.

"I think they need to reduce the speed limit to 20mph along St Catherine's. If they extended the double yellow by two car lengths you would be able to see more. It is a real problem."

(Image: Cristiano Magaglio)

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Another resident, Gideon Casey, said: "I didn't really see what happened. I heard the noise which woke me up.

"There were a couple of fire engines that closed off the road."

One resident, who did not want to be named, said: "It was just a loud bang at 5.30am, it woke me up all right. 

"The road was closed until about 8-8.30am.

"There are quite a lot of crashes out there."

A spokesperson for Hampshire Constabulary said: "We were called at 5.45am with reports of a minor injury collision involving two cars in St. Catherine's Road, Southampton.

"One of the vehicles, a Ford Mondeo, also collided with the front of a shop causing some structural damage."

No arrests have been made.