1:04PM, Wed Nov 7, 2012

Car Smashes Into Sunderland House And Ruptures Gas Main

By India Adams Location: Sunderland

Video: The extensive damage inside the house on Newcastle Road

A man has been charged after a car crashed into a house in Sunderland.

It happened at around 2.20am, on Tuesday, October 30 on Newcastle Road. The vehicle hit the front of the property, rupturing a gas main.

The front of the house was partially demolished, leaving piles of bricks and rubble strewn across the living room.

Police closed off the street until gas engineers made the building safe. No-one was injured in the incident.

84-year-old Bill Dugan who lives at the property and his 90-year-old neighbour Anne Dougherty were temporarily evacuated from their homes as a precaution.

Mr Dugan said: “I heard a very loud noise like an explosion and then I heard voices shouting ‘are you alright?’

“I looked out of the window and saw a car in the middle of my front lawn and my neighbours who’d just come home from night shift.

“They said they could smell gas and that I needed to get out of the house quickly. My next door neighbour and myself were taken to hospital as a precaution but we’re both fine.

“I was only allowed back home at around 8 o’clock this morning and that’s when I discovered the state of the front room.

“It’s a real mess. I can’t stay in my own home now because I have no gas and no heating.”

40-year-old Neil Bater of Penrith Road in Fulwell, has been charged with aggravated vehicle taking.