A family had a narrow escape when a lorry crashed into their lounge.
The HGV struck the house in Finedon, which is divided into a flat upstairs with a separate living area downstairs.
If anyone had been sitting in the front room at the time they could have been seriously injured or even killed.
The incident occurred last Wednesday night when an articulated lorry was in collision with a BMW car in the Wellingborough Road area.
Neighbours, Richard and Lesley Minney, who had to be evacuated from their property due to possible structural damage, said they were shocked when they saw what had happened.
Mrs Minney said: “I was upstairs watching television in the back room and my husband, Richard, was watching TV downstairs in the front room. I heard an almighty bang and I thought we were having a thunderstorm as it was so loud. I went to see what happened and I froze.
“I went downstairs to check on Richard and when I got there he had already called the police.” Mr Minney said he heard two bangs, one he thought was the original accident and the other was the lorry hitting next door.
He said: “I went around to see if everyone was alright and I was shocked as you never expect something like that happening around here.” Mr Minney said later that night he kept getting hot sweats thinking about what had happened as he had been sitting on the sofa watching television only 10 feet away from the crash.
The occupants of the damaged property did not want to comment.
A spokesman for the fire service said: “No one was trapped and no one was injured. We made safe the fuel spill and a structural engineer was called to look at the house.
“Western Power were also called to deal with an electrical installation that was damaged.” A police spokesman said: “A man, 27, was taken to hospital and later charged with drink driving.”
