Updated: ‘Thank god it didn’t go into their bedroom’ – Car crashes into house, narrowly missing elderly couple

An elderly couple had a lucky escape today after a car crashed into their house, just feet away from where they were sleeping.

Fred and Joyce Kitching, both in their eighties, were asleep at their home on Manor Lane, Rawcliffe, when an Audi TT left the road and ploughed into the front of their house.

The impact smashed a hole in the wall, exposing the dining room behind.

According to witnesses two men then left the car and ran off.

North Yorkshire Police later tweeted that they had located and arrested a suspect for dangerous driving, failing to stop, and on suspicion of drink driving.

Emergency services were alerted at about 3am today (Sunday, 5 January). Fire crews from Acomb and Tadcaster went to the scene.

They also brought in a specialist team from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue to assist with stabilising the building and removing the car. They have shored up the front wall with two large pieces of timber.

‘A big crash and a bang’

Fred and Joyce are now at the home of their son David Kitching in Stockton-on-the-Forest.

He was alerted to the crash when his father rang. “I got a phone call at about quarter to four this morning – which was not as rude awakening as they had but it certainly makes you think a little bit,” he told YorkMix.

David told us:

• A car came up the road opposite the house, failed to stop, bounced across the verge, across the front garden and embedded itself in the front of the house.

  Both my parents, both in their eighties, were asleep in bed in the room next to where the car crashed.

  Thank god it didn’t go into their bedroom.

  A big crash and a bang and they get up and see there’s a car parked in their dining room.
  

He said Fred and Joyce were unhurt. “They are very well surprisingly. They’re doing a lot better than probably I would have been.

“They’re both very calm kind of people normally. It seems as though they’ve taken it in their stride at the minute.

“But it may hit home a little bit when they come back and see it a little bit later on.”

The couple have lived in the bungalow for about 20 years, he said.

‘It was devastation’

Next door neighbour Robin Wells was woken by the emergency services. He told YorkMix:

• I was woken up by flashing lights. We didn’t hear a thing – triple glazing’s marvellous you know!

  I was shocked. It was devastation. I just couldn’t believe it.

  My wife got up first and came and looked through the blinds at the front and saw the car embedded in there.
  

He said some people did drive too fast along Manor Lane.

“They tend to get their foot down because it’s a straight road, not taking into consideration that there’s a mini-roundabout there and further up.

“They seem to go hell for leather, motorbikes and cars.”

David agreed: “Of an evening, from what they’ve said, and what neighbours have said, you do get cars that speed up and down here pretty much every night.

“They forget that that’s a mini-roundabout. It’s not in people’s minds when they are coming down here.”

He said his parents were in touch with their insurers, who would were expected to undertake an inspection of the property soon.