Crash takes the cheer

By Alison Noonan
A FINANCIALLY struggling Cranbourne mother says her Christmas has been “ruined” by a careless driver.
Irene Barnett now has an added expense to deal with this festive season after her car was hit as she did some last minute Christmas shopping in Centro Cranbourne Shopping Centre on Saturday.
The mother of two young children said she had only been in the centre an hour when she returned to find the side door of her Hyundai Lantra had been smashed in.
“The side door was severely dinted and scratched.
“There wasn’t even a note. Someone had clearly hit my car and then driven off,” she said.
Mrs Barnett said that although the car park was busy, she had purposely searched for an isolated parking space to avoid such an incident.
“I made sure there was heaps of room on either side.
“I’m always very careful about where I park. When I came out and saw the damage I just thought, ‘Great, merry Christmas to me’,” she said.
Mrs Barnett said she could not afford to pay for the repairs so close to Christmas, and that she would now be forced to cut back on treats for the family on the day.
“I have two kids and a mortgage. I can’t afford to deal with this.
“If I claim through insurance I’ll lose my rating one so now I’ll have to bear the cost of repairs myself.
“This has just wrecked my Christmas. Even if they had left a note apologising I would understand but the fact they didn’t even bother is really bad,” she said.
Mrs Barnett called on any witnesses to the collision, which occurred in the bottom car park opposite the Kmart Auto Centre between 3pm and 4pm, to come forward.
“There are no surveillance cameras in that area so I am hoping that somebody may have seen something and can help me.
“I just want to use my experience to warn drivers to be careful where they park their cars during this busy time,” she said.