A ute ploughed into an Altona jewellery store on Wednesday afternoon.
Witnesses say the driver said he passed out at the wheel from a medical condition.
David Szigeti, the owner of Uccello Jewellery in Maidstone Street, said if the crash had happened later the street would have been full of schoolchildren.
The shop is opposite Mount St Joseph Girls’ College and has a bus stop outside.
Mr Szigeti said the southbound ute veered off the road and smashed through double-laminate glass about 12.20pm.
“He’s literally just careered off the road to the left, taken out that minor fencing that’s near the school crossing there, and then careered into the front of the shop on a bit of an angle,” he said.
“It has taken out both my windows and my door and damaged the corner edge of the shop.
“It could have been horrendously worse. I’ve got a team member here – my sister works for me – and we had a customer in store at the time, so it could have been a lot worse.
“My parents were here a few minutes before.
“Sometimes, it gets quite busy over here – people passing by, going to the train station, going to the cafes around the corner, bus stop right out the front.”
An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said the driver, a man in his 60s, was taken to Western Hospital in a stable condition with no obvious injuries.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said no one else was injured but a number of people were trapped inside the store for some time before the car was removed.
