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Car crashing through house is 'weirdest feeling'

News imageChloe Beale The damage from the inside of the house. The white plaster has been cracked and damaged. Behind it is damaged brickwork and a hole through which daylight pours. A shelf has fallen to the floor, as has a grey painting of a flower. The patio door and window has a blue blind pulled down.Chloe Beale
A car smashed in Mike Beale's living room on Monday morning, leaving a gaping hole

A man whose living room was smashed into by a car says "its the weirdest feeling to see your house violated like that".

The vehicle crashed into a house on Kimblesworth Walk in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, on Monday morning. Nobody was hurt but the driver was believed to have fled the scene, Durham Police said.

Tenant Mike Beale, 53, was away working in Newcastle when it happened and said he picked up the call from his housing association thinking a "wheelie bin had gone over or something".

He said he was thankful it was not more serious, but was "absolutely devastated" by the carnage in a home his children had grown up in.

"If it'd been 10 years earlier my children would probably being sat on the couch having breakfast," Beale said.

"Or if I hadn't been doing this job, I would have been on the other side of that wall, sat at my desk at the computer."

He has since been sleeping at his office and was told it could be three months before he could return home.

News imageChloe Beale A small grey car has smashed a hole in the brick exterior of a house and pushed the white patio door off its hinges. There is debris scattered around from the damage. A section of brickwork is missing, behind which are broken building blocks and a view into the damaged living room.Chloe Beale
Durham Police said the driver had fled the scene

Beale said he was despairing at first, but his emotions turned to anger thinking about how someone could have been hurt.

"I worried that that could have been a young mum crossing the road, it could have been my daughter, it could have been a kid, it could have been anything else," Beale said.

"It is terrible. I just don't know until I can get in there and have a look."

News imageMike Beale Mike Beale is sitting in his van and smiling slightly at the camera. He has very short grey hair, almost bald. He has a short beard and moustache. His wearing a black t-shirt and his glasses are perched on top of his head.Mike Beale
Mike Beale was away working in Newcastle when the crash happened

Beale said the locks had been changed but there was a big crack in a supporting wall.

The damage to his furniture was "not as bad as it could have been".

Housing association Livin said: "The property has been made safe and our inspections are ongoing."

Durham Police officers continue to investigate the crash.

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