lcox@thekmgroup.co.uk

The ground floor of a family's home was badly damaged after a car rolled down a hill and smashed into the house.

The car was being delivered following repairs when it fell off the back of the lorry in Fairlead Road, Rochester, came down the hill and ploughed into number 13.

As Mike and Paulette English surveyed the destruction of their home, their first reaction was relief that no-one was injured.

Their three boys have been spending time during the school holidays relaxing in the front room watching the family’s new plasma TV screen, which was shattered into pieces in the incident.

It is believed the driver of the lorry jumped out of his cab and tried in vain to stop the car rolling down the hill.
Doreen Kean, who lives next door, was in her kitchen when the car hit the house. She said: “There was such a terrible crashing sound it was like a bomb had gone off, it really shook me up.”
Firefighters from Strood were called to the house to make sure people were not trapped inside and discovered no one had been home at the time.
Mr English, 45, said: “Paulette got a call while she was at work and then called me in floods of tears. We are all just thankful that no one was in the house at the time.”
Mrs English added: “Just last week the boys would have been at home and would have probably been in the front room watching the television.
“I’m just thankful they went back to school this week, and are safe. It could have been much worse.”
Mr English said: “We have recently spent a lot of money on the house and had only just got the television, now that’s in pieces on the floor.
“Living at number 13 has always brought us luck in the past, but I guess now we’ve had a bit of bad luck.”
It is not clear when the couple and their sons will be able to return to their home and were due to stay with friends until the house was declared safe.
A spokesman for Medway Police said: “We were called to Fairlead Road, Rochester at 11.50am on Wednesday, following reports that a car had crashed into a house.
“Initial reports suggest that the car had come off of the back of a recovery van.
“No one was in the house at the time of the incident and no one was injured.”