Car ends up on its side in garden after Cameron Rd, Te Puke crash

A car crashed through the fence at a Cameron Rd property in the early hours of Sunday morning and ended up on its side in the next-door section.

A sleeping family had a very lucky escape after a car crashed through a neighbour's fence in the early hours on Sunday morning.

The car ended up on its side in the Cameron Rd property's section. A car already parked in the section was damaged but prevented the crashed vehicle hitting the house.

Charlie Wilson, who lives in the house, said he was woken by has grandson Raponi running through the house.

''He said it made such a noise that he thought someone had hit the kids' room,'' says Charlie.

Raponi and his wife sleep in one of the two rooms closest to Cameron Rd, while two of their children sleep in the other.

''That's what we are always afraid of, someone coming off the road and hitting either of the bedrooms,'' said Charlie.

Raponi's car, parked between the road and the house, was damaged.

''It's lucky that the grandson's car was parked where it was, otherwise they would more than likely have gone through one of the walls. We've moved all the beds to the other side of the rooms.''

Charlie says a similar crash happened 10 years ago, but cars speeding is a regular occurrence.

''They come down Cameron Rd at a rate of knots - you wouldn't believe it sometimes.''

Around an hour later another car on Cameron Rd hit a parked car in the same area, between Raymond Ave and Jellicoe St.

A police spokeswoman said the report of the first crash came in at 2.07am and there were no reported injuries and no arrests made at the time.

Nearby resident Stewart Knudsen said people speed on Cameron Rd and he is concerned that someone might be killed as a result.

In response to Sunday morning's crash, he made a Facebook post asking for support for a campaign to have speed humps built on the road.

''But it sounds like there are a lot of people that don't want them around there so I'm pretty stumped as to what to suggest now.''

Charlie agreed.

''We don't want speed humps, that would just get them airborne.''

Stewart said recently a car's driver ''came speeding up Raymond Ave and slammed his brakes on and went straight into a tree''.

''If the tree hadn't been there, it would have ended up in the neighbours' house.''

Te Puke Police Sergeant Mike Owen said he didn't think there was an ongoing problem with speeding vehicles in Te Puke.

''It pops its head up from time to time, in particular, probably more recently, around Tynan St with people doing the loop now that's opened up.''

He said a car was recently impounded as a result of someone doing burnouts in that area.

He said when the weather was rainy and the roads get slippery, ''some of these people decide that's a good time to come out and have a bit of a lick on the wet roads''.

''But there's no direct pattern of it. We've had the odd complaint around different streets. Boucher Ave is another one where they might speed at times.

''We've had a lot of severe downpours in the last week and by and large the general population seem to be able to adjust their driving to the conditions but there's a very small percentage of the public that either don't or choose not to or think it's great to get out onto a wet road and drive at the same speed.''