A HAIRDRESSER has told how her team had a “lucky” escape after a car crashed through her salon, leaving her scarred and concussed.

Mandy Gates, 48, has owned the Hair Studio on Ringwood Road in Bournemouth for 22 years and told the Daily Echo that she feels “someone was looking out for us” following the incident on Wednesday morning.

She said: “On that day, our stylist John decided to have the day off, our other hairdresser Emily was running late, and our colleague Kelly had to shoot home quickly just before it happened.

“We were so lucky that everyone was running late that day. If we’d all been in then it would have been much worse.

“I guess someone was looking out for us.”

Remembering the crash, Mandy said: “I was just finishing a client’s hair when I turned to grab some spray and saw the car come straight through the window.

“The car smashed everything, the front drivers side hit my thigh and pushed me up against the wall. I ended up on the floor about six feet from where I was stood, and I just remember glass flying all around me and shredding my legs.

“Not long after there was just chaos with ambulance, police and fire services all coming down, it was a total blur. I had a lot of neck and back pain and was taken to hospital on a stretcher.

“Thankfully, nothing was broken but I did suffer from a concussion and I will be left with a lot of permanent scarring on my leg and thigh. Not to mention the mental side of things. I consider myself a very headstrong woman, but this really has hit me hard.”

She added: “Every morning I wake up with the same image of the car coming through the window, the whole thing has knocked me for six.”

Bournemouth Echo: The Hair Studio in Bournemouth before and after the crashThe Hair Studio in Bournemouth before and after the crash

The elderly client, whose hair Mandy was cutting, was unscathed and calmed the bruised hairdresser down in the aftermath of the crash by holding her hand.

The incident occurred less than 20 minutes after the salon opened and Mandy added that her French bulldog, who often comes to work with her, was left at home that day. The dog’s bed ended up crushed under the rubble.

Emily Madison, who works with Mandy, said: “We’re like family in here and it’s not just our work, it’s like our second home. But it feels like that’s gone, like now we have nothing.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up in reaction to the crash and has already raised more than £900.

Mandy has pledged that the GoFundMe money will be donated to a local mental health charity, provided their insurance claim goes through unhitched, as a way of “turning a huge negative into a positive” and to "give back to the community”.

A Dorset Police spokesperson said  of the crash: “Our enquiries into this incident are ongoing. No arrests have been made at this stage.”

The Hair Studio had been refurbished in March, with both the exterior and interior receiving a makeover.

Mandy said: “I’m hopeful that we can reopen in September at the earliest. But between now and then we’re losing business and that’s why we’re counting on our loyal customers to be here when we return.

“We will pick up the pieces and come back bigger and better than before.”