Two families narrowly escape after 4x4 ploughs into their back gardens
TWO young families narrowly escaped tragedy after a 4x4 ploughed into their back garden crashing into toys and swings.
A Volvo XC90 smashed through two crash barriers and uprooted a tree before falling into the communal gardens in Lincoln.
It plunged 20ft down an embankment and landed on one-year-old Bethany Cowley's toy basket.
Mother Lucy Mackenzie, 23, took her son Tyler inside just minutes before the crash as she was feeling unwell.
She said: “I was upstairs when I heard a noise and I just looked out of the window and saw the car coming into the garden.
“I’m shocked but relieved that no-one was in the garden at the time. I’ve never heard of anything like this before.
"Luckily, I was not feeling very well so I had gone upstairs with Tyler to watch a DVD.
“I definitely think there needs to be a better barrier between the road and our gardens.”
The car was being driven by a 37-year-old woman who had two children on board.
The driver is thought to have careered through one set of traffic lights and a second junction before landing in the children’s play area.
Neighbour Andrew Cowley, 34, also uses the gardens and was thankful that his family were not there at the time.
He said: ”I was in the kitchen and it felt as it the whole house was shaking, almost like an earthquake.
“I wasn’t sure what was going on. I heard the children crying and went out and saw the car had ended up in our gardens.
“I was only in the garden half-an-hour before hand.
“Thankfully, my wife, Lisa, and one-year-old daughter Bethany were out at the time.”
Mrs Cowley added: “It was the tree that stopped the car from hitting the house.
“This could have been a tragedy on another level.
“I think there needs to be a second barrier on the road made out of concrete.”