POLICE have confirmed an incident in which a lorry was reversed into a house in Darlington was a 'targeted attack'.

Officers leading the hunt for the driver have taken steps to reassure local residents but some people have claimed they are 'living in fear' amid concerns that the 'feud' could escalate.

The Northern Echo:

The lorry embedded in the wall

The latest incident involving a vehicle being smashed into a home in Yarm Road happened at around 7pm on Monday night when it demolished the wall and stopped next to the front bay window.

The occupants of the house, including a young child, were uninjured.

The lorry – belonging to a company from the Consett area – was abandoned in the garden and two men fled the area in a Green Rover 75 before police arrived.

A man who has lived in the Eastbourne area of the town all of his life has called on those involved to bring an end to the alleged 'feud'.

"I'm absolutely devastated about what is happening in my town," he said. 

"Everybody around here knows what is going and we just want it to stop before somebody is killed in this feud.

"We are living in fear, we just don't know what is going to happen next. This time the targeted a house with young children and they could easily have been in the front room and the truck could easily have gone through the window."

The Northern Echo:

Writing on Facebook, a woman saying she knew the occupants of the house expressed her shock.

She said a woman and a young child were in the living room of the property at the time and witnessed the lorry reversing up and into the wall.

"It's lucky that it got caught in the wall otherwise (they) wouldn't be here!," she wrote.

Inspector Dave Barker, of Darlington Police, has reassured the local community that officers believe it was a targeted attack but he said it was too early to link it to previous incidents in the town.

"This wasn't a random attack," he said. "Obviously, we can't link it to previous incidents at this point in the investigation, but our enquiries are ongoing.

"The vehicle was recovered at the scene and has been taken away for examination.

"I don't want to raise tensions in the community, but we will continue our investigations until we bring someone to justice.

"We are asking members of the community to come forward with any information that they have in relation to the attack."

Anyone with information is urged to call police in 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 55 111.