A shopper in St George’s had her car written off yesterday when a steel piling for the construction of the marina at Ordnance Island toppled on to the parking lot.

No one was in the vehicle or injured by the accident, believed to have happened at about 1.45pm.

The front end of the car was flattened by the falling structure, which narrowly missed a building adjacent to the construction site.

The mishap is not expected to result in delays to the long-anticipated project, according to an assessment by contractors.

Candy Lee Foggo, town manager and secretary at the Corporation of St George, said it appeared that construction workers had been getting ready to start driving the piling into place.

“For whatever reason, unfortunate circumstances, the piling leant and then came down,” she said.

“Apparently it happened all in slow motion. Thankfully nobody was inside, and the contractor has the matter all in hand.”

The owner of the car, who took advantage of the parking area left after heavy equipment was moved out, was “devastated” on coming back to find it pinned under the piling.

Compensation is understood to be handled by the contractors at the site.

Ms Foggo said the project remained on track for completion in January.

“There is no concern — right now the project is progressing as anticipated.”

She said George Dowling III, the mayor, was “happy that no one was injured and comfortable the contractor has it in hand”.

• Are you the owner of the car? Contact jbell@royalgazette.com or jdeacon@royalgazette.com