The taxi driver, Mr Goh Chun Kiang, said he had parked his cab in a lot opposite the clinic because he wanted to make a quick stop to buy Toto at the Singapore Pools outlet near it.

He left the engine to his automatic transmission taxi running, but pulled the handbrake, he told The New Paper.

He admitted he had left the gear engaged, something he has frequently done in his 30 years as a cab driver.

Unknown to him, the vehicle rolled forward about 15m, up a slight incline. It then mounted a curb and crashed into the Parkson Medical Clinic&Surgery.

The bang caused Madam Vairambal, 70, who was buying a pair of slippers at a shop nearby to run out.

The housewife said she saw the cabby dash from a convenience store, where the Pools outlet is located, to check on his taxi. The vehicle was later towed away and business at the clinic resumed at 3.15pm.

Several residents at the estate claimed that a similar accident had happened at exactly the same spot more than 10 years ago.

There was a medical hall at the location then.

According to them, a driver had crashed his Mercedes head-on into the medical hall after he had started his car from the same parking lot.

There were no casualties in that incident too.

Lucky number

Yesterday, onlookers were more concerned with taking down the licence plate number of Mr Goh's cab to buy 4-D.

Said Madam Lee Sok Har, 45, a housewife: "'Everyone knows that buying the four-digit licence plate numbers of cars in accidents is lucky.

"But when the car crashes into the shop so near the Singapore Pools outlet, this is like the ultimate sure-win!"

cchar@sph.com.sg

- Additional reporting by Nurul Asyikin Mohd Nasir,newsroom intern

This article was first published in The New Paper.