'Like a warzone': Chaotic scenes in Shropshire village as car smashes through fences and into living room

The terrifying incident happened on Canal View in the quiet village of Chirk Bank, on Shropshire’s northwest border with Wales, around 10pm yesterday (October 1).

The car, a black Seat Leon, remains embedded upside down in the canal-side terrace house this morning, with the area taped off after police, firefighters and ambulance crews were all scrambled to the incident.

Bemused walkers taking in a Sunday morning stroll along the canal were stopped in their tracks by the remarkable sight, questioning how the car had ended up upside down inside the house.

Neighbours reported chaotic scenes in the immediate aftermath of the incident, with the car understood to have ploughed through metal fencing blocking a bridge over the Shropshire Union Canal currently undergoing repair work.

One neighbour told how the car then hit debris on the bridge before careering onwards, down the bank for about 20 metres and straight through the front room of the house - the village’s former post office and shop which closed in 2000.

The Seat smashed through a large window into the living room of the house, but miraculously none of the occupants of the home were injured.

Wreckage from the property could be seen stacked to the side of the home, while a Honda Jazz parked outside the neighbouring house had windows smashed and its body damaged, reportedly caused by rocks and debris thrown from a pile on the bridge in the chaotic collision.

Neighbour Mick Holford, who has lived on the terrace for 26 years, said he thought part of a plane had fallen off when he heard the deafening bang.

Next-door neighbour, Ella St John, said the aftermath of the crash looked like a “warzone”.

Mr Holford said he believed the car was being followed by police at the time of the crash.

He said: “It sounded like an explosion. I looked out the back because I thought something had fallen off an aeroplane or something.

“Then I looked out the front and there was a lot of shouting and blue lights and trying to get the bloke out of the car, so I thought ‘I don’t know what’s going on here’ and shut the door.”

Mr Holford said it was incredibly fortunate the occupants of the house were not injured.

Mrs St John said she had been watching television when she heard the crash.

“I was just sitting in the living room watching the TV waiting for Tom Jones to come on and I just heard this almighty bang.

“I saw all these lights flashing, there were all these stones all over the path, I could not believe it. It was like a warzone when I came out.”

She added: “I just cannot believe it.”

A series of barriers understood to have been damaged in the incident have been placed inside the road closure, with workers having replaced the barriers sealing off the bridge.

Emergency services have been approached for further information.