LOCAL residents and business owners have reacted with shock after a car travelling at speed ploughed into a barber shop in Pudsey in the early hours of this morning.

A man has been arrested after driving an Audi A4 at high speed down Richardshaw Lane and smashing into Philip Nicholas barber shop on Bradford Road at around 2.30am today.

"I heard a big noise when it happened," said Gurvinder Singh, owner of Stanningley Off Licence, which is two doors down from the barber shop.

"It was a massive bang," said his daughter Simran Gill. "But when I looked out the window I couldn't see a car because it went inside the shop, so I thought it was gas explosion.

"A car had driven across the roundabout just a few seconds before, it was so lucky that the driver just missed it.

"It's never a boring day around here.

Mr Singh said he felt a lot of sympathy for the owner of the barber shop.

"He's a good guy. It's a massive shame for him."

Narin Artharn, a chef at the Thai Sun restaurant across the road, also expressed her sympathy.

"I'm sad for Philip," she said. "You wouldn't want this to happen to anyone."

Miss Artharn, who lives just above the restaurant, also said she heard the accident.

"I heard what I thought was a lorry slamming on its brakes, but then I heard a loud bang.

"I looked out the window and saw the car had went straight into the shop."

"It's bad, isn't it," said Farsley resident Deborah Gilbertson. "It must have been going at some speed."

Miss Artharn added: "It's a bad roundabout because there are a lot of crashes there, not as bad as this one though. It needs traffic lights or something similar."

Mr Singh, who has written off four cars he had parked outside his shop on Bradford Road, said: "The roundabout is very confusing for people and there are a lot of accidents there."

Hocine Hemadou, owner of Ozzy's Bistro which is located next to the barber shop, said his business managed to escape without damage.

"It's been bad enough with 'corona' and business had started to pick up. God knows what is going to happen next."

But Mr Hemadou said he was not surprised that such an accident happened.

"The way the roundabout is designed, I'm not surprised. There are no signs approaching the roundabout. Whoever designed it, they need to rethink it.

"It's ok for local people who know the area but when there are no signs people from the outside the area wonder 'Where did that come from?'

He also said that bollards should be placed outside on the pavement in front the Bradford Road shops on the roundabout to help protect pedestrians.

"It's too dangerous. Something has got to be done. Don't wait until someone gets hurt."

John Capstick, a Pudsey resident who lives nearby, said the roundabout is very confusing for people.

"It's like a stand off when people are at the roundabout. Everybody's waiting for somebody to do something."