Lucky escape for sleeping pair after crash

A Te Puke man is lucky to be alive after his car crashed through a fence and a garden, missing a house by metres before colliding with a tree.
Charles Wilson and his wife Didi were jolted from their sleep when the car crashed on to their property in Cameron Rd, Te Puke, about 4.30am yesterday.
"We didn't know what had happened," Mr Wilson said.
"It sounded like a train coming through, honestly it was loud. I could hear things shattering.
"We flew out of the nest. We had a hell of a job to see if he was still alive."
A sedan, driven by a 37-year-old Te Puke man, had lost control on a bend, smashing through the Wilsons' fence and passing the bedroom where the couple slept.
The impact sent wood and debris flying, smashing a window pane on the back door of the house.
The car continued across the Wilsons' lawn, before moving on to their neighbour's property, where it collided with a tree. The car came to rest on its side.
Te Puke Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Glenn Williams said the driver was initially trapped in the vehicle.
"One of the neighbours had opened the back passenger door and had been talking to him through the door.
"We cut the windscreen off."
The man was able to climb out through the windscreen, and was well enough to walk to a waiting ambulance.
Mr Williams said it was lucky the car didn't hit the house.
"If it had been heading towards the house, it could have gone into one of the bedrooms."
A spokesman from Te Puke St John Ambulance said a 37-year-old Te Puke man was taken to Tauranga Hospital with grazes to his head and elbow. His injuries were described as moderate.
Mr Wilson said the accident could have been far worse.
"It was just lucky there was only one person in there
"It was lucky it was not when people were around - we usually have a lot of young ones here, our grandchildren, but at that time of the morning it was sweet as."
He speculated the accident could have been caused by a pothole on the road, which he described as "an accident waiting to happen". A car had previously lost control in the same spot, hitting a power pole.