Lucky escape in car smash
Monday 31st March 2008, 11:40AM BST.
A Shropshire man had an amazing escape when a car smashed through a bay window and into his home in the early hours of this morning.
Lewis Bennett said he believed he was moments from death when he heard the smash and turned around to see the vehicle’s headlights.
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The 23-year-old was getting a glass of water when the Ford Mondeo estate ploughed through his home in Dorrington, near Shrewsbury.
The elderly driver of the car escaped with only minor injuries in the smash, which happened at about 2.30am.
Mr Bennett’s partner, Cerrie-Anne Lysaght, 21, was asleep upstairs.
Another couple, who were spending their first night in the upper floor leasehold of the property, were also unhurt.
Mr Bennett said his bedroom was only 20 feet away from where the car came to a stop.
He said if the incident had happened only a few seconds later he could have been killed.
Mr Bennett said: “I don’t normally get up in the night but it was boiling and I couldn’t sleep so I went to get a glass of water from the kitchen.
“As I was walking through the bedroom I heard a smash and then saw these headlights. At first I didn’t register what it was but then I realised there was a car parked in my house.
“If it had happened a few seconds later I wouldn’t be here now, so it could have been a lot worse.”
Mr Bennett said he saw the driver of the car climb out of the window before checking if anybody was hurt.
He said the car had caused significant damage to the house and said he had been told by structural engineers that if it had hit the property six inches to the right it would have hit a supporting wall causing the upper floor bedroom to collapse.
Mr Bennett said: “The couple upstairs had only moved in yesterday and were sleeping on a blow-up bed.”
West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “The driver of the car, a man believed to be in his 60s, suffered only minor injuries.”
A spokeswoman for West Mercia Police added: “We attended this morning to close the road while the vehicle was recovered and that was completed at 9.20am and the road was reopened.”
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