Car crash hits home (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Car crash hits home

2:00pm Saturday 24th December 2011 in Royal Wootton Bassett

A DRIVER feels she is lucky to be alive after accidentally crashing her car into the front of her house.

Jill Copsey, of Honeyhill in Royal Wootton Bassett, was parking in her driveway on Sunday afternoon when her foot slipped and pressed the accelerator instead of the brake on her automatic Chevrolet.

The next thing she knew, she had crashed through the front wall of her house into the utility room. She was badly shaken, but walked away unharmed except for a bruised knee.

She said: “I was very shocked, but I am lucky, it could have been worse. It has completely put me off driving again. I have been driving since 1990 and never had an accident.

“It just happened so quickly and there was nothing I could do. It was quite slippy out and my trainers must have been a bit slippy. The car went straight through the brick wall out the front.”

Jill’s partner Robert Smith was driving along the M5 on the way to work when he got a call from neighbours asking him to come home. He said: “I was shocked when I saw what she had done.

“The utility room was originally a garage, so it is completely separate to the rest of the house. We aren’t sure of the extent of the damage yet and won’t know how much it is going to cost until the loss adjustor comes out to see what needs to be done to rectify the problem.

“That whole part of the house may have to be completely demolished.

“It is our home, so of course we will stay here for Christmas. I don’t want it to put Jill off driving because she needs her independence, she likes to be independent.”

The couple have thanked fire crews and the British Red Cross Victim Support Unit, who they said did a “sterling job”.

Fire crews from Westlea attended the scene shortly before 4.30pm, with a damage control unit and emergency support unit from Swindon. Building surveyors from Wiltshire Council were also called to assess the damage.

A spokesman for the fire service said: “The exterior wall was badly damaged and an interior wall was also affected.

“Fortunately the occupiers of the home were able to stay put as it did not affect their living area.”

The car was removed by a crane and a tow truck on Monday afternoon.