PEOPLE in two homes in a Suffolk market town had a lucky escape after a car crashed into their houses and triggered a gas fire.

Fire fighters managed to extinguish the five-foot ball of fire after a silver Landrover hit two terraced houses in Bulmer Terrace, Bulmer Street, Sudbury at 5pm on Friday.

A police officer, who had been helping at the nearby crossroads in Ballingdon Hill after the traffic lights had stopped working, rushed to the scene and immediately called for help.

The Land Rover had also made contact with a power line, but a spokesman for Suffolk Fire and Rescue said no one was injured in the incident.

The gas and electricity supply was quickly isolated and a 100 metre police cordon was put up.

One of the homeowners, who asked not to be named, said: “I heard a bang but I did not think anything of it. I thought it was a car trailer hitting a pot hole in the road but then my neighbour told me there was a fire.”

Two appliances from Sudbury and a third from Long Melford attended the scene and extinguished the gas fire using a jet, a hose reel and a dry powder extinguisher. The incident was over by 8.30pm.

Workers from National Grid applied a temporary seal to the gas pipe and fire crews remained on hand at the scene looking for hot spots in the properties.

The second property was unoccupied at the time of the crash as it was believed that the family had gone out for the day.