Car flips on to roof and smashes into property causing widespread destruction

19 February 2024 , 08:58

816     0

A car flipped onto its roof after the driver lost control and smashed into a woman's home while she was having a lie-in (Image: Chronicle Live)

A woman has spoken of her terror after a car smashed into her home while she was lying in bed.

Christine Elliott, 63, was enjoying a lie in early on Sunday when she heard a loud crash. To her shock, a black Mercedes had smashed into the wall surrounding her bungalow in Wylam, Northumberland, and was lying upside down in the middle of the road.

Both police and ambulance crews rushed to the spot of the crash, which happened close to the village's Fox & Hounds pub. The driver, believed to be a man in his 30s, hurt his face and was taken to hospital after losing control of the vehicle "following a night shift".

Christine, who has lived in the house for over 30 years, was told by police that the driver was alright. She said: "I just heard the thud, it was 7.22am this morning. The people next door must have called the police and the ambulance. The driver's okay, the police said that he had to go to hospital. He said 'I had been on night shift and had lost concentration'. It's just one of those things. He's been a lucky man! The police came in and got the CCTV."

Christine said she will need to make an insurance claim to get her wall fixed. She told Chronicle Live: "I'm pleased the car didn't go up the drive and I didn't lose the end of my house. If he had come a bit further right he would have hit the end of the house.

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

The driver reportedly lost control after finishing a night shift, Christine was told (Chronicle Live)

"My car wasn't on the drive at the time. I had been moving stone to the back to rise the levels so there was stone on the front drive. If I had had my car on the drive it would have hit the house. It could have been a lot worse for him and for us."

Police sealed off the road for nearly two hours on Sunday while the emergency services handled the situation. Workers from Northumberland County Council cleaned up the road and put up a temporary fence around Christine's home.

Christine also praised the police, paramedics and Northumberland County Council for how quickly they dealt with the incident. She said that it was "efficient" and "organised" and road was clear again by 10am. She added: "When things work in this country they work really well. It gives you faith."

A spokesman for the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) said: "We were called at 07.24h today (18 FEB) to attend reports of a collision between a car and a wall on Main Road, Wylam. We dispatched one paramedic crew who treated one patient with facial injuries before taking him to hospital."

Kristy Dawson