Family’s fears after car crashes into wall of home

The vehicle crashed through a fence at the side of the house at 1.30am on Sunday morning, and hit the wall of the home, breaking through the brick and exposing the insulation. The homeowner’s satellite dish was also ripped off the wall during the incident.

Sunday morning was the fifth time that the homeowner, who works for the BBC, has had to deal with such an incident. On a previous occasion five years ago, a vehicle crashed into the back of the property and landed beside the patio doors. The householder and her neighbours are growing increasingly concerned for their families’ safety - in particular, the well-being of their children.

“My son is 16 and my daughter is 12,” said the resident, whose property has suffered extensive damage on each of the four occasions. “As you can imagine, they are often out in the garden and playing with our dog. It doesn’t bear thinking about what might happen if this had occurred during the day. Cars fly up and down that road all day long and there is the constant screeching of breaks at that junction.”

Houses at Old Court Manor are beside an extremely busy junction, facing onto the Sugar Island Road. Residents have confronted the Department of Regional Development about the dangerous junction in the past, but were told that it was the responsibility of the homeowners to protect their own properties. Many of those living at Old Court Manor believe that the installation of street lights at the junction would alleviate the risk of further incidents. Police attended the house at Old Court Manor on Sunday morning and managed to recover a headlight which had fallen off the vehicle during the incident. Although the vehicle fled the scene immediately after the crash, a neighbour in an adjacent house believes it was a dark-coloured estate car. The headlight found by police was that of a Peugeot 407 and residents are appealing for the driver of the vehicle to come forward.