Shock as car ploughs into house

Fortunately no one was injured when an airborne car crashed through the back wall of a Te Puna home. Photo / Andrew Warner

A quick spin ended in disaster for two men when their car flew through the top of a wooden fence, over bushes and a clothesline and through the back wall of a Te Puna house.

The occupants of the Hakao Rd house were home about 6pm on Saturday when a car came crashing through the back wall of their garage, destroyed a washing machine, scraped along the side of another car parked in the garage and ripped off the sectional metal door as it shot out the front where it came to rest in the driveway.

"We're just thankful the guys weren't killed. Normally my little black car is in there. I'd taken it out to wash it," the occupant of the house told the Bay of Plenty Times yesterday.

Tauranga police Senior Constable Chris Hills said two men in their 20s were in the turbo-charged Mitsubishi Lancer at the time of the crash but escaped unscathed with one suffering a small cut to the head.

"Two people, quite unfamiliar with the road, were test driving a car and unfortunately the road ends and unfortunately their journey didn't. They've crested a small crest in the road. They've then gone slightly across the end of the road and gone up a small earth bank. They've then gone airborne through the top of a wooden fence and cleared a few bushes and trees and a clothes line before going through the back corner of a house."

Police had spoken to the driver and the owner of the car, who was in the front passenger's seat at the time, and were carrying out an investigation into the cause of the accident to determine if charges would be laid, Mr Hills said.

It was still daylight and not raining at the time of the crash. Early indications pointed to driver error and speed being factors in the crash, he said.

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said he heard a car speeding before the crash.

"I said to my wife, 'there's a very speedy car around here' and then - bang."

He looked out the window in the direction of Minden Rd but saw nothing. It was not until they heard sirens coming up their road they saw the damage to their neighbour's home.

"The car went right through the garage and straight out the front," he said. "Right beside the house is a little garden shed and it's all intact.

"It must have been a hell of a fright," he said.

St John staff attended the crash but did not need to take anyone to hospital. Firefighters helped make the house safe.

Insurance assessors were yesterday working with the occupants of the house.