A nail technician of a family-run nail salon which was ram-raided just hours before its official opening has exclusively spoken to Epping Forest Guardian.

Lisa Tran, from East London, revealed how Nail Hub, on Epping High Street, was set to originally open back earlier this year.

Working alongside her mother and sister, the family were forced to delay the stores opening after the facility was damaged by an unknown vehicle on Wednesday, January 29.

Bad luck then struck again when the building was rammed once again at 4am on Tuesday, July 2, smashing the front windows and the pavement upturned.

“I first got a voice message out at around 8am,” explained Ms Tram. “They said can you give us a call and I thought it was an update on the case back in January.

“Later on they said it happened last night and that was when I was really surprised, so I drove down their immediately and it looked exactly the same as the first accident.”

The nail salon’s interior was fortunately saved from severe damaged and nothing was stolen, mirroring the former attack.

Ms Tran said her mother, Nail Hub’s manager, has never experienced anything like this within her 15 years in the beauty industry.

Essex Police, who considered the first ram-raid an accident have since open a crime investigation, linking the two cases.

Ms Tran said: “The first incident we did not think that it was deliberate, we used to work in Loughton previously and we know that generally this area is very safe at night and everyone is really friendly.

“So we would never, ever thought that it would be on purpose however it has happened the second time and on the day we was supposed to open, so for the same incident to happen again, we do suspect it was deliberate.”

Despite the nail technician’s ill-started new business venture their insurance has allowed the store to go ahead and open due to the foundation still being intact.

A temporary wooden door has been fitted and the family have welcomed guests who were booked for appointments yesterday to drop-in.

A soft launch is offering guests 20 per cent off all purchases over £10 just to encourage customers to come by.

“We cannot keep closing every single time this happens,” explained Ms Tran. “If we closed again, we would be closed for the whole year.

“The community has been really good and they have come over giving us encouragement since yesterday.

“Obviously, there is an organisation or individual we don’t know who it is trying to prevent us from opening.

“We don’t know anyone in that area in Epping, we don’t know anyone personally, we have no friends here so we can’t understand who would target a family business, it’s really bizarre.”

Officers later found a silver Ford Focus car abandoned at an address nearby on Tower Road, Epping, which they believe its connected to the incident.

Anyone who was in the area around this time, witnessed any suspicious behaviour or saw anyone driving a silver Ford Focus and has dash cam footage, are asked to contact Loughton CID on 101, quoting incident 146 of 2 July.

Information can also be given completely anonymously to independent charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or visiting crimestoppers-uk.org

To book an appointment with Nail Hub, contact them on 01992 577499 or visit their Facebook page.