'Drink-driver' and three passengers are taken to hospital after car smashes into Manchester restaurant and bursts into flames
A suspected drink-driver and three of his passengers were taken to hospital after a car smashed into a popular Manchester city centre restaurant on New Year's Day.
No staff were inside Asian-themed restaurant Tampopo on Albert Square when the dramatic crash happened at around 3.15am on Friday.
But the car burst into flames upon impact and firefighters had to help a man and a woman from the vehicle. They and two others were taken to hospital for treatment.
The flames coming from the car set fire to umbrella stands outside the venue.
Owner David Fox, 55, who has five other Tampopo outlets, said: 'It would appear someone just crashed into it, a great start to 2021.'
A suspected drink-driver and three of his passengers were taken to hospital after a car smashed into a popular Manchester city centre restaurant on New Year's Day
No staff were inside Asian-themed restaurant Tampopo on Albert Square when the dramatic crash happened at around 3.15am on Friday
None of the venue's 20 staff nor the owner were onsite when the crash happened.
The full extent of the damage to the restaurant, which opened there in 1997, is yet to be established.
Mr Fox, who hopes to open the restaurant for takeaways on Saturday, said: 'I'm hoping it will just be minor external damage. We will see.'
Greater Manchester Police said officers were called to the scene at around 3.15am.
A force spokesman said: 'A man aged 19 was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving and failing to remain at the scene of a collision.
'He was taken to hospital with injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.
Tampopo opened in Albert Square in 1998 and serves Tampopo cuisine from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan
The car burst into flames upon impact and firefighters had to help a man and a woman from the vehicle. They and two others were taken to hospital for treatment
The flames coming from the car set fire to umbrella stands outside the venue
None of the venue's 20 staff nor the owner were onsite when the crash happened
'Three passengers in the car - a woman aged 19, a man aged 18, and a man aged 20 - were taken to hospital for injuries that are not believed to be life threatening.'
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said two fire engines, from Moss Side and Salford, were called to the scene alongside a technical response unit from Ashton-under-Lyne after reports that a car had gone into a building in Albert Square just before 3.15am.
Firefighters used hose-reels to tackle a fire but the blaze did not appear to have spread to the inside of the restaurant, although it was left heavily smoke-logged.
Firefighters pulled a man and a woman from the car and they were taken to hospital by the North West Ambulance Service.
Owner David Fox, 55, who has five other Tampopo outlets, said: 'It would appear someone just crashed into it, a great start to 2021'