Pensioner knocks over wife in collision

A pensioner lost control of his car, knocking over his wife and crashing into a neighbour's house before reversing into his own Black Country home as horrified residents looked on.

The drama unfolded in a quiet residential street in Wollescote, Stourbridge, at 4.30pm yesterday.

Neighbours told how the 85-year-old driver's wife, aged 90, was directing her husband up a driveway opposite their home when his black Vauxhall Agila lurched forward, knocking her to the ground and striking the door of the property.

They said the car then "shot across the road" before becoming embedded in the couple's house. The dazed driver limped from the wreckage but his wife suffered what appeared to be a broken arm and leg and was taken by ambulance to Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley. A crew from green watch at Stourbridge fire station attended to make the car and house safe.

A Dudley Council structural engineer surveyed the damage to the house and firefighters installed steel props to secure the roof of the bungalow.

The car had reversed through a hedge before careering over the lawn and a disabled ramp, eventually coming to rest against the front wall of the couple's home causing the brickwork to crumble. Natalie Mullen, 20, said her parents had given the pensioner permission to park his car on their drive after it was twice targeted by vandals when parked on the road.

The mother-of-one was looking after four-year-old son Quinn at the time of the accident. She said:"I was inside and I heard a bang. When I looked up he was reversing, he had lost control of the car and just shot across the road."

The couple's next door neighbour Dave Allport said: "They are a golden couple, very devoted to each other. I bet he will be devastated."

West Midlands Ambulance spokesman Murray MacGregor confirmed paramedics were called and a 90-year-old woman was taken to Russells Hall Hospital with a suspected fractured wrist, leg and facial injuries.