A tight-knit community has rallied round a devastated shopkeeper after her Kinross business was destroyed.
Irene Baillie told The Courier she was greeted with “cups of coffee and hugs” as she sifted through the wreckage of her newsagents.
Just hours before a car ploughed through the front window of Baillies on Saturday morning, building teams had been putting the finishing touches to a five-month renovation.
Instead of welcoming customers to their new premises, Mrs Baillie and her family were instead picking up the pieces of their ruined store.
Despite the carnage caused, no-one was aware of the incident until several hours later.
When he arrived to open up for the day, Mrs Baillie’s son Gordon was met with a scene of destruction.
She received a phone call at 6am, explaining what had happened.
“I was devastated,” she said. “The people upstairs heard nothing and the first they knew of it was when they came down to complain about the alarm going off at 7.30am.”
Fortunately, the Baillie family haven’t been left to deal with the incident alone.
The same team of construction workers who had just finished the refit rushed to the High Street store to carry out emergency repairs and make the premises safe.
Neighbouring businesses also lent a helping hand and helped deliver Suday papers.
Mrs Baillie added: “Everybody has been amazing I had five separate offers from people offering to put our papers out so our customers weren’t left disappointed.
“There’s been a real community effort and I’ve been given plenty of cups of coffee and hugs.”
Locals were left shocked when they were confronted with the scene.
Bricks, signs and glass were flung across the High Street, leading some to believe the business had been destroyed by a gas leak.
Further wreckage was evident inside, with display units and stock destroyed or buried under rubble and broken wood.
Marie Skinner, a shop assistant at Sands the Ironmongers, told The Courier she thought there had been an explosion.
She said: “I came into the shop first thing and when I looked across the road and saw the state of Baillie’s, I really thought there had been a gas explosion.
“They’ve been working away on the shop for so long and they are just really good people, so it’s such a shame this has happened.”
The police confirmed the damage was caused by a car colliding with the shop and a male is expected to appear at Perth Sheriff Court on Monday.