GARY | An unexpected delivery abruptly halted service and caused the Glen Park branch U.S. post office to close about three hours early Tuesday afternoon, manager Harriett Sheppard said.

The post office was evacuated and closed for service at about 2:15 p.m. when an elderly customer accidentally drove his 1988 Buick into the west side of the red brick building at 320 E. 40th Ave., Sheppard said.

Sheppard said the customer, who is in his 70s, had gotten inside his parked car and was attempting to back out of the post office lot when he mistakenly hit his accelerator instead of his brakes and drove his front end into the post office.

The impact from the crash shattered a glass and steel framed section next to an area used by post office box customers, she said.

No one was injured in the crash, she said.

"Fortunately no one was in the post office box section and there was only one person at the counter, inside the post office," she said.

The customer, whose name she said she didn't know, also wasn't injured.

She said the man, after speaking to police, got back inside his vehicle and left.

"He had only minimal damage to his car," she said.

She said the post office was closed down because of the splattered glass and because, initially, it was thought that there had been a gasoline leak from the damaged car.

The spilled liquid was later determined to be water from the car's radiator and not gasoline, she said.

It was unknown whether or not the driver had been ticketed since a police spokeswoman couldn't be reached for comment late Tuesday.