A WOMAN has told how she was woken up by a stolen car crashing into a row of houses.

The Vauxhall Corsa is said to have struck a number of houses on Ninth Street, Blackhall Colliery, at around 4.30am.

Emergency services and utilities companies were called to the scene.

"My partner and me had been woken by a big bang and my house shook," said the woman.

"My partner ran to the bedroom window half asleep and saw someone climbing out of the car door whilst pushing the airbags out the way.

"My partner screamed ‘what the **** you doing? I've got kids here!’

"He replied with 'it wasn't me it was my friend. Then seconds later gas started pouring into my house, so we quickly got our three girls out of bed and ran out the back door. We went to my mother's house which is just down the street. My girls were petrified!

"They didn’t have a clue what was going on and I'm pretty shook up myself. My gas box has been completely destroyed as well as a few bricks on the front of my house and on the inside of my house where my front door is.

"The car started at the top of the path and skimmed about five houses, but my house and my neighbour's bore the brunt of it.

"The mess has been cleaned up so doesn't really look too bad. The gas supply has been completely cut off and won't get fixed for a fair few days."

A Durham Police spokesman said: "The car also collided with gas meters, resulting in nearby residents being evacuated as a precaution. However, they have all since returned to their properties.   

"The Vauxhall Corsa involved in the incident is believed to have been stolen and the occupants ran off following the collision."

John Richardson, business operational leader at Northern Gas Networks, said: “Our engineers were called by the fire service at about 5am this morning to an incident on Ninth Street, in Blackhall. A car had scraped along five houses on the street and damaged meter boxes. Engineers arrived at the scene promptly and capped off the gas supply to the homes for everyone’s safety.

“Two of the homes have now had their supply restored but three of them need new gas meter boxes that should be installed tomorrow and they should have full supply restored after that. In the meantime we’ve supplied the homeowners with heaters to ensure they aren’t left feeling the cold until their supply is restored.”

  • Anyone who witnessed the collision is asked to contact Durham Constabulary on 101, quoting incident number 27 of March 26