Taxi ploughs into house
2:50pm Thursday 25th September 2008
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A TAXI ploughed into a flat and ended up in the living room.
The silver Ford Galaxy mounted the curb, crashed through a garden wall and came to rest halfway inside an apartment in Beccles Court, Station Avenue, Wickford.
A mum and her son, five, were asleep upstairs in the flat as the people carrier, of Wickford cab firm Brown’s Taxis, smashed through the wall at about 5.25am yesterday.
They escaped without injuries, but will have to be rehomed while the building, which was structurally damaged, is assessed by engineers.
The driver, believed to be in his forties, also escaped serious injury and was taken to Basildon Hospital by ambulance.
Neighbours were woken by the commotion.
Deborah Gillard, 49, of Station Avenue, said: “There was a really loud bang. It sounded like a house falling down.
“It woke up all my family. We’re seven or eight doors up from where it hit and it was still really noisy.”
Ray Davis, 51, also of Station Avenue, saw the damage as he was taking his children to school.
He said: “Looking at it, the car most have gathered quite a bit of pace from the station to go through a wall, then the house.
“It went square through the lounge window.”
Essex Police are launching an investigation into the crash. The cab will undergo a full mechanical examination.
Source: Basildon Echo;
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local_n ... nto_house/