A family who were sleeping when a sports car crashed into their house in County Durham, say they are lucky to be alive.

The stolen S-type Jaguar was left embedded in the living room of the house in Chester-le-Street after the incident at 0240 BST on Wednesday.

Police say the driver fled the scene of the crash, leaving the house so badly damaged it may have to be demolished.

Susan Baron was in the house when the car careered 75 yards from the road and plunged down a grass bank before smashing through a porch and front window.

If it had been earlier and we had been downstairs then I don't know what would have happened

Susan Baron

Her 21-year-old daughter, Lindsey, was asleep with her boyfriend, Ben Harman, in the bedroom directly above the devastated living room.

Mrs Baron said: "I was upstairs just after 2.30 this morning and I thought it was thunder.

"My daughter thought it was a plane that had hit the roof.

"Ben just said, 'Somebody has parked their car in the living room'."

The car was jammed so far into the three-bedroomed 1970s terraced house that the thief had to clamber out of the back window to escape.

Lost control

Mrs Baron - a catering assistant - said she was thankful that nobody had been injured.

She said: "It is like a bomb site.

"If it had been earlier and we had been downstairs then I don't know what would have happened.

"If it had been a smaller car I don't think he would have been OK.

"All that you can think is that we are all all right."

Acting Inspector Dave Tweddle of Durham Constabulary said: "The driver appears to have lost control and smashed into the property before fleeing.

"The car went through the front porch and a window at the house as the occupants slept upstairs."

Structural damage

The incident happened shortly after the Jaguar was stolen, along with a Fiat Punto, from a house in Falstone Drive in the town.

Mr Tweddle said: "Fortunately the occupants of the house were upstairs when the vehicle hit and were not injured.

"However it is possible that the driver of the stolen Jaguar who fled the scene may be hurt."

He urged any witnesses to come forward.

The Jaguar will remain embedded in the house for much of the day while the extent of structural damage to the building is assessed.

The Fiat was later found abandoned in the Wynyard estate.