Kerrimuir Shopping Centre safety saga continues as wheel stops pose tripping hazard

It was mid-November 2022 when an elderly woman driver ploughed through the awning of Nick’s Fruit Shop in Box Hill North’s Kerrimuir Shopping Centre.

Owner Gina Menelaou was squashed between two counters, causing injury to her lower back, bruising on her thigh and creating osteoarthritis issues.

• 🗣️ “I’m lucky to be alive,” Menelaou told the Eastern Melburnian on Monday.

Menelaou has been operating on this strip for 27 years and in that time, she said, there had been a number of accidents involving people driving over the kerb and often into shopfronts.

The history of people mounting the kerb and footpath led to the installation of 10cm-tall wheel stoppers.

Problem solved? Not quite. The arrival of the wheel stoppers triggered a series of accidents as people tripped over the hazards.

🅿️ How did we get here? Box Hill MP Paul Hamer first raised the issue with council by submitting a petition with 78 signatures in January 2022.

• The council spent $25,000 on the installation of five bollards (two near Nick’s Fruit Shop and three outside Cafe Rubix) and a bike hoop in mid-2023.

• According to traders, the current yellow wheel stoppers were installed mid-2025, replacing older and damaged wheel stoppers.

❓What happened? Direct Chemist Outlet pharmacy assistant Nicolette Hiep launched a petition earlier this year to seek public support for Whitehorse Council to consider removing the wheel stoppers and instead install vertical metal bollards on the kerbside.

• The paper petition was signed by 361 shoppers and traders.

• During Whitehorse Council’s meeting on Monday March 16, councillors passed a motion to accept the petition and send it to traffic engineers for consideration.

🤕 No crashes, more trips: Direct Chemist Outlet Kerrimuir pharmacist Adam Nguyen said they had seen more than 30 people fall since the new stoppers were installed, and often had to administer first aid until an ambulance arrived.

• 🗣️ “We do want to see prevention over treatment,” said Nguyen. “We don’t want to attend to people who have broken legs and broken elbows. We’d rather treat the cause.”

💭 Under consideration: Whitehorse councillor Blair Barker told the Eastern Melburnian overall safety for customers and traders had become a “very vexed issue”, with vertical bollards previously knocked back by the majority of traders due to how they would restrict people’s access to car boots.