Car with baby on board ploughs into house (From Daily Echo)
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Out of control car with baby on board ploughs into house in Thorold Road in Bitterne Park, Southampton
11:30am Monday 25th February 2013 in News
The scene on Saturday after a driver lost control and hit a house.
As his out-of-control car careered towards a house, teenager Ben Brown knew there was nothing he could do.
His ten-month-old baby son and girlfriend were with him in his VW Polo car when the lace of his shoe got stuck under the brake pedal.
The 19-year-old driver had desperately tried to free his foot, but in his panic hit the accelerator and hurtled towards the house
The red Volkswagen Polo ploughed down a driveway and into the property, caving in the wall and narrowly missing a gas pipe in the process.
Luckily the young family walked away from the accident in Thorold Road, Bitterne Park, Southampton, virtually unscathed.
Ben, of Riverdene Place, Bitterne Park, had been driving down Dimond Hill when he came to the junction with Thorold Road.
He said: “My foot got stuck, with the shoelace under the brake pedal. I couldn’t move.
“I ended up panicking, put my foot down on the accelerator and went straight into the wall.
“It was just a split-second thing. I pulled the handbrake but nothing happened. It was frightening.”
He said he put his arm across to try and protect his fiance Lara Millichip, 18. Their son Alfie Brown was in the back.
Despite the impact Ben managed to get out of the car and get his family out too.
All three went to hospital to be checked over, but escaped without serious injury, though Ben has a sore shoulder. We were really lucky, we were close to a gas pipe so it could have been a lot worse,” said Ben. “I was just shaken up last night – now I’m more worried about my next year’s insurance.”
Home-owner Anne Sutherland, 64, said: “I was sat in there watching television and there was this sudden bang. When I looked out I couldn’t see anything, but the security light down this end was on.
“I went out to find this man wandering round my driveway and his car stuck in my house.”
She said it was lucky that nothing had been coming up or down the road and even luckier that the car had not hit the gas meter behind the area of impact, which could have caused a gas leak or explosion.
Two fire engines from St Mary’s attended the incident on Saturday at 10.15pm, and helped move the car from the front of the house and checked the property for structural damage.
There was significant damage to the property’s dining room and garage.
