Unexpected visitor ploughs into lounge

Police, ambulance and firefighters attended the scene. Photo / File

It was sheer luck an elderly Waipu resident wasn't injured when a car ploughed through her house, almost taking out the couch she was sitting on, before coming to a stop against the brick exterior wall on the opposite side of the home.

The Saorsa Retirement Village resident was watching television about 5pm on Wednesday when the car - under full acceleration - came crashing through her front conservatory, bedroom and lounge, Waipu fire chief Trevor Vaile said.

The driver, a fellow Saorsa resident, had some sort of medical event before accelerating across the lawn and through the unit, he said.

"The [female] resident was sitting in the lounge, watching TV, and the car came within millimetres of the chair she was sitting in,' Mr Vaile said.

"She was extremely lucky. If the chair was in a different position she would have been pushed against the [brick exterior] wall. It was almost like a bomb-site the way everything was spread around - the scene of carnage."

Police, ambulance and fire attended. The driver was taken to hospital by ambulance, while the woman stayed with friends as the car had to remain in the house until yesterday morning when the insurance company could recover it, Mr Vaile said.

"They had to stabilise the roof before pulling the car out."

Only hours after the crash, firefighters were called to a fire at a residence less than a kilometre away, on Shoemaker Rd.

A garage on a property was "well ablaze" by the time Waipu and Ruakaka firefighters attended at about 10.47pm.

"The owner woke up to the sound of something exploding, and then could see a glow through his curtain," Mr Vaile said.

The fire has been referred to a fire safety officer and police as the cause is considered potentially suspicious, he said.

Then at 7.45am yesterday, Waipu firefighters were called to a two-car crash on Cove Rd, near Flagstaff Terrace.

One car lost control on the corner after Flagstaff, spinning around and heading backwards before colliding into another vehicle, Mr Vaile said. Two appliances attended.

Both drivers were uninjured but in shock.