Child among three hurt as car hits shop at Cardiff Gate services

An 8-year-old child was among three people injured after a car struck a shop at Cardiff Gate services, where pedestrians and vehicles were moving through the same busy forecourt at around 11.30am.

South Wales Police said the crash happened at junction 30 of the M4 in the Pontprennau area of Cardiff and involved a 76-year-old woman driving the vehicle. The other two people taken to hospital were a 39-year-old man, who was also a pedestrian, and the driver. Police said none of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening, and an investigation was under way.

The collision landed on Bank Holiday Monday, one of the heaviest travel days on the M4, a key east-west route through Wales. Cardiff Gate services, which is run by Welcome Break, sits close to the motorway and is designed to serve drivers stopping for fuel, food or rest, but the latest crash underlines how exposed service-station environments can be when cars, foot traffic and shops sit in close proximity.

That combination creates a public-safety challenge that goes beyond one incident. At motorway stops, families, children and tired drivers often share the same cramped space, while vehicles are constantly entering, leaving and manoeuvring around forecourts, parking bays and pedestrian routes. The Cardiff Gate crash will renew scrutiny of whether layouts, barriers and speed controls are enough to separate people from moving traffic, especially during holiday peaks when volumes rise and attention can fall.

The location has already seen a serious police investigation before. In January 2025, South Wales Police investigated a fatal collision at M4 junction 30, on the eastbound exit lane at Cardiff Gate, after an incident at about 3.30am on Thursday, January 9. While the circumstances were different, the fact that the same junction has featured in major crash inquiries adds weight to concerns about safety around one of Cardiff’s busiest motorway stops.

For South Wales Police, the immediate task is to establish exactly how a vehicle ended up colliding with a shop at the services and what role, if any, site design or driver error played. For Cardiff Gate, the incident is a sharp reminder that motorway service stations are not just places to refuel and rest, but shared public spaces where a moment’s failure can quickly put pedestrians, including children, in hospital.