An elderly couple from Shropshire avoided serious injury when a car ploughed into their front room, an escape they attribute to not watching television at the time. Phil Barnett, 80, was in another part of the house when the vehicle struck, leaving him just yards from the impact.
Car smashes into living room
The incident occurred on Canal View in Chirk Bank, a village on Shropshire's northwest border with Wales. A black Seat Leon careered through a road closure and smashed into the living room of the terrace house, remaining embedded upside down for days while police, firefighters and ambulance crews attended the scene.
Mr Barnett was sitting on the other side of a wall, only a few feet away, when he heard an "almighty bang." He described the moment to the BBC: "I thought something had fallen through the roof, one of my neighbours later said he thought something had fallen from a plane through the roof of the house, which about sums it up."
Driver arrested after pursuit
The driver was arrested at the scene after the car came to rest. Mr Barnett recalled: "The car just came straight through the bay window, upside down, I looked through this door and the next thing, I saw this policeman dragging this guy out and putting handcuffs on him."
One neighbour said the car hit debris on a bridge before careering down a bank for about 20 metres and through the front room of the house, which was the village's former post office and shop, closed since 2000. Neighbour Ella St John described the aftermath as looking like a "warzone." She said: "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."
Police and ambulance response
A North Wales Police spokesperson said: "At 9.54pm on Saturday, October 31, a vehicle collided into a property on Canal View, Chirk Bank, Wrexham. The driver had been in short pursuit with a police vehicle after failing to stop for officers. Following the pursuit, the driver entered a road closure and collided with a bridge, before hitting the front of a residential property."
The driver was arrested before being taken to hospital, where they continue to receive treatment for an injury. No injuries were reported from inside the property, and enquiries into the collision are ongoing.
West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) said the driver was taken to hospital after sustaining "potentially serious injuries." A service spokesperson said: "We were called to reports of a car which had collided with a property on Canal View, Chirk Bank, Wrexham, at 10.01pm on Saturday, October 31. One ambulance attended the scene. The driver, a man, sustained potentially serious injuries in the collision. He received treatment on scene before being conveyed to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for further care."
