A MAN has died after collapsing at the wheel of his car and crashing into a shop in Lyme Regis.

Two pedestrians were injured during the incident along Broad Street yesterday at around 3pm – but did not require hospital treatment.

A spokesman for Dorset Police said the driver of the car, a 70-year-old Lyme Regis man, collapsed at the wheel of the blue Ford Focus he was driving – entering Broad Street from Silver Street.

The driver has been named locally as Tony Freeman.

The man lost control of the car and mounted the pavement close to the Co-Op store, before sliding across the road and onto the opposite pavement, destroying a bollard.

The car collided with two pedestrians, who received slight injuries, and crashed into the window of the Love and Wonder shop.

The police spokesman said: “Emergency services were called to attend and paramedics began to resuscitate the driver. However, sadly the man died at the scene.

“The road remained closed for several hours while police investigations commenced.”

The man’s wife, aged 75, had been a passenger in the car at the time of the collision, and was uninjured.

PC Richard Winward from the Lyme Regis safer neighbourhood team, said: “Two pedestrians were hit in the process. I spoke to one of them who was suffering with swelling to his right arm – but he wasn’t in too much pain and didn’t need to go to hospital.

“By the time we had arrived, people were already helping at the scene. The local fire service were already there, while one of the pubs had put a barrel underneath the car to make sure it was safe. There were people doing CPR on the man before the paramedics arrived.

“The staff at the Co-Op were fantastic. They were comforting the man’s wife and even closed the shop at one point to give the family some privacy. Obviously our condolences and sympathies go out to the family at this sad time. It was quite fortunate that no-one else was seriously injured and the community rallied to do all they could to help those involved.”

Any witnesses are asked to call Dorset Police on 101, quoting incident number 25:224.