The 67 year old woman who ploughed her car into Coin Save Gate Pa was a regular shopper at the store. Store owner Peng Peng describes the woman as 'a very nice lady.”

Coin Save owner Peng Peng stands in front of the large store window that smashed after a driver ploughed through it on Thursday morning.

The woman smashed her vehicle into the store's large front window, sending shards of glass, clothes racks and other items flying through the air.

Peng says he talks to the woman regularly when she comes into the shop.

'Sometimes she comes in with a walking stick. Many of the other store owners know her too.”

He was standing at the counter when the car ploughed through.

'I just heard a big bang and then the car was right there. We're just lucky no one was at the front shopping.”

He says a doctor and an off duty ambulance officer were shopping in the Gate Pa Shopping Centre when the incident happened and were first on the scene.

'I could see she was in a lot of shock. But she wasn't moving very much.”

'She called me over to the ambulance before they took her away and told me she was so sorry but I told her not to worry about it.”

Tauranga senior station officer Mark Keller says fire fighters used extrication equipment, commonly known as the jaws of life, to rip off the vehicle's rear door and middle pillar.

He says the woman was not trapped but a stretcher needed to be placed inside the vehicle because she had a neck injury and historic back injuries.

'Trying to twist someone out of the car seat can be quite traumatic. Removing the back door meant she could be taken from the vehicle in a stretcher.”

Sergeant Lester Polglase says police are unsure at this stage what caused the crash.

He says it is likely she either pushed too hard on the accelerator or suffered a medical episode and lost control of the vehicle.

Police investigations are continuing.