Moment ‘drink driver’ crashes through tattoo parlour window in high-speed smash before fleeing 

Dramatic CCTV footage shows the moment a suspected drink-driver smashed through the window of a tattoo parlour, leaving a car stuck inside the building.

The speeding black Audi A4 ploughed into the Creating Utopia Tattoo Studio in Stanningley in Leeds, shortly after 2.30am yesterday.

The driver fled the scene but was later arrested on suspicion of drink driving, failing to stop and assaulting officers, West Yorkshire Police confirmed.

He was taken to hospital where he was being treated for ‘serious injuries’ but has since been released and taken into police custody.

Police said the driver had earlier failed to stop for officers after being spotted by a patrol.

The Audi inside the Creating Utopia Tattoo Studio in Stanningley in Leeds, West Yorks, following the collision in the early hours of June 17

The video shows the black Audi hurtling across a junction and smashing through the window of the tattoo studio, leaving long skid marks in its wake.

Moments after the crash, which was also captured on another CCTV from a different angle, police arrived. 

A police spokesperson added: ‘The man was taken to hospital, where he was found to have serious injuries and is continuing to receive treatment.’

Fire crews had to shore up the building to make it safe for the police to search. 

The incident has left the tattoo parlour badly damaged and a fundraiser has been launched to help its owners, which has so far raised more than £2,350.

Its owners posted on Facebook: ‘I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has messaged with support and offers of help to work from customers old and new, friends, other tattoo artists and various other people.’

Ozzy Hemadou, 65, owner of Ozzy’s Bistro near to the crash site said: ‘I feel for them next door, they have only just started to reopen after the Covid restrictions.

‘The amount of near misses and bumps I see here because drivers mistake the junction for a mini roundabout is high. Something like this was bound to happen.’

The car failed to stop before the junction and smashed into the tattoo parlour across the road

The car left long skid marks on the road where the driver had applied brakes

Police and a crew each from Stanningley, Bradford and Cleckheaton fire stations were called to the tattoo parlour, attached to the Philip Nicholas barber shop on Richardshaw Lane at about 3.30am. 

A spokesman for Stanningley Fire Station said: ‘The car went through the front of the building and we had to make it safe.

‘Nobody was trapped in the car and there was no driver when we arrived at the scene.’

A technical rescue team from Cleckheaton Fire Station put up structural supports to allow police to search the building.

A spokesman from Cleckheaton Fire Station said: ‘A car skidded out of control and went through a barber shop window.

A police car was seen arriving at the scene of the accident with officers getting out to inspect the damage and look for the driver

‘By the time the police arrived, no-one was in the vehicle or the shop. Structural shoring allowed investigations to take place.’

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: ‘At 2.29am on June 17, police patrol sighted a black Audi A4 on Richardshaw Road, Stanningley.

‘The vehicle failed to stop for police and was then involved in a collision with a business premises on Bradford Road. The driver left the scene.

‘At around 5.40am officers attended an address in Pudsey and a man was arrested on suspicion of drink driving, failing to stop and assault of police officers.

‘The man was taken to hospital, where he was found to have serious injuries and received treatment.’ 

The crash happened more than 100 years after a runaway tram crashed into the same building in 1912.