A FAMILY has been left counting the cost after an out-of-control car smashed through railings outside their house and crashed through the wall of their lounge – leaving them with a repair bill that could top £30,000.
The accident left a horrific trail of destruction, including ripping off a radiator inside the room, smashing a TV and leaving rubble and debris strewn about.
And, the family said that had it been just an hour later, two young children would have been right in the driver's path.
The car crashed into the house, at the Love Lane corner of Weelsby Road and Humberston Road, Grimsby, just after 6am yesterday, Sunday, while the five occupants were asleep upstairs.
Chris Dixon, the son of the owners – who were too shaken by the incident to speak – said the destruction caused by the crashed car was devastating.
"It's like a building site," he said.
"Everything is just destroyed. A radiator has gone flying off, the TV is smashed up and so is a coffee table – everything.
"It's damaged the bay window of a bedroom above. It's dropped. It's probably going to be more than £30,000 of damage."
He said he, his parents and his children, Isobel, 9, and Liam, 5, were asleep when the crash happened.
The family had already spoken to their insurance company and somebody had been sent out to assess the damage.
"It will be made safe, secure and watertight but, whether my parents can live in the house until it's sorted, I don't know," said Mr Dixon.
"They are waiting for an inspector to say it's all right."
Mr Dixon, 34, of Rosemary Avenue, Grimsby, said: "There was a colossal bang. The house shook. I looked down from the bedroom and saw two guys getting out of this car.
"All I could see was the back end of the car. One of them was trying to start the car.
"They kept walking round the car. By this time, I was out there. He was still trying to start the car.
"Three or four times he got back in, trying to start it. I physically had to pull him out of the car.
"He probably wanted to drive off if he had got it started. I kept on grabbing him. A few more people came.
"Five minutes later, the two of them started wandering off towards the gate as if they were going to do a runner. I went after them and grabbed one of them.
"Thankfully, the police came at the right time. I think my dad had called them straightaway. He realised he wasn't going to be getting away from that," said Mr Dixon.
"The car must have been doing some speed," he said.
He believed that the car "took off" and hurtled in to "mid air" at the roundabout coming from the Clee Road direction.
"It went through the garden wall and straight through the bay window. He was doing some speed apparently."
"There were five of us in the house but, if it had been an hour later, my children would have been up and about and watching TV, as they are usually doing," he said.
"They would have been right in the middle of it. I dread to think what could have happened.
"It's just utter destruction at the minute."
Mr Dixon said that his father's car was in the garage but it was only by pure luck that his own car was not on the drive.
He had taken it to Market Rasen for the races and had left it there after the meeting.
"It would have been on the driveway and all mangled up," said Mr Dixon. "It would have been written off."
He added that he was just grateful that his children had not been hurt in the destruction.
"To have a big hole in your house on a Sunday morning, it's a bit different but we will sort it, I'm sure," said Mr Dixon.
His father, David Dixon, said he was very upset about the devastating scene of destruction, especially as his grandchildren were in the house, but he did not want to comment further.
The fire brigade confirmed that it made a bay window safe by using props and batons.
