A PENSIONER was left reeling when a car ploughed through his front door in the middle of the night.

Jo Thewlis

A SHOCKED pensioner was left reeling when a car ploughed through his front door in the middle of the night.

Colin Bull, 89, was asleep upstairs at the back of his house in High Street, Hadleigh when a red Ford Escort came off the road and smashed into his hall at 11.55pm on Friday.

Mr Bull's daughter, Dianne Gibson, 64, was woken by the crash and rushed to tell her father the news.

He said: “My daughter heard a huge crash, it scared her half to death.

“We went downstairs and there was a car half way into the hall surrounded by bricks and rubble.”

Police and fire fighters were called to the scene of the smash at the junction with Angel Street just before midnight.

Transco engineers were also called after a smell of gas was reported after the incident but found no leak.

Miraculously, the car's passengers were unharmed and managed to escape from the wreckage of their vehicle.

But the front of Mr Bull's Grade II listed house was completely destroyed and structural engineers had to brace the building with acro props to stop it falling down.

“They were very fortunate not to be injured because the car was a wreck,” Mr Bull said. “The front of the house would have collapsed if they hadn't shored it up.”

The cost of the damage to the house, which dates back to the 15th century, is as yet unknown.

But Mr Bull, who has lived in the building for more than 40 years, is thankful no-one was killed.

“You just don't expect something like this to happen,” he said. “We do get traffic along the road but nothing like this has happened before.”

The car was removed around 3am and Mr Bull's house was boarded up until further repairs can take place to restore the building to its original state.

Jo.thewlis@eadt.co.uk