A woman is lucky to escape serious injury or death after a car smashed into a petrol service station on Saturday.

Surveillance camera footage shows the car ploughing through the front glass wall of the service station shop in the Sydney south west suburb of Belfield where Catherine Crawford can be seen walking towards the counter.

Seconds later she was thrown to the ground by the impact of the crash.

Back at the service station on Monday Crawford was greeted by co-owner George Diab, whose wife was behind the counter at the time of the crash.

Local media reported that the crash caused a major gas leak that lasted several hours.

Outside the petrol station closed circuit television footage (CCTV) showed occupants of the car being helped by bystanders.

According to local media, it is not known what caused the crash. Three occupantsof the car were treated by paramedics and taken to hospital. A a fourth man, believed to be the driver, was missing.

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