Car smash shock

The pensioners were awoken from their sleep by a "horrendous" bang as the vehicle ploughed into their Ballycastle Road property.

No one in the house was hurt in the incident, which occurred around 3am on Sunday, but the driver of the car was taken to hospital. His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Mrs Baxter, 69, said it would take her and husband, Jimmy, 73, a "day or two" to get their "heads around" the accident.

She said: "We were awoken by a horrendous noise.

"I was just in shock and by the time I got to even look out the window, it was all over."

Mrs Baxter revealed that by the time she and her husband had composed themselves and made it to the front door, the ambulance was just leaving the scene of the accident, with the driver on board.

"The garden wall was completely destroyed. Some of the other walls in front of neighbours' homes were damaged as well," she said.

The pensioner, who has been inundated with calls from neighbours and family, expressed relief that no one was in the vicinity at the time of the accident.

"It would have been horrendous if any of the grandchildren had been out at the front, but by good luck it was in the middle of the night.

"Everything's mixed with mercy."

Mrs Baxter said she bore no ill-will against the driver of the car and planned to have her front wall rebuilt as normal.

"I'm sure whoever it was wasn't out to cause disruption or annoy anybody."

A PSNI spokesperson confirmed the incident was being investigated.

She said: "A 21-year-old male was taken to hospital with injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening after his car left the road and collided into a garden wall of a house on the Ballycastle Road."