A 15-month-old baby has cheated death after a lorry ploughed through a warehouse adjoining her home, missing her bedroom by just a few feet.
Taryn Alcroft and her parents, Andy and Ruth, were sleeping in their home when the incident happened at 3.26 this morning.
Mr Alcroft heard the vehicle smashing into the building adjacent to the house, and immediately phoned the emergency services.
His wife, a 33 year old supply teacher, told reporters: I heard a loud rumbling noise, followed by a crash, which woke me up. We looked out of the window to see a lorry was sticking out of the workshop. Initially I was overcome with relief, thanking my lucky stars the lorry had missed the house.'
Mrs Alcroft said it was not the first time a vehicle had crashed into their property:
'If you look at the outside of our house, you can see that the front window has been replaced with bricks.Cars have crashed into the house before.'
She said the accident was a 'freak occurrence':
'After the emergency services left about an hour later we went back to sleep. 'Well, what else could we do?It was a freak occurrence. It's a busy road outside and we often hear screeches of brakes and people beeping.'
The driver, a 58 year old male from South Tynside, was trapped in the vehicle. He was later released by firemen and taken to the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, where his injuries were not thought to be serious.
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Have you had a narrow escape from a runaway vehicle?