Car crashing into garden wall ‘sounded like bomb going off’
A suspected drunk driver has been arrested after a Range Rover ploughed into homes in the early hours.
People living in Lower Boxley Road, Maidstone, were woken up at around 1am on Friday after the vehicle rammed through a garden wall as it tried to negotiate a roundabout near the prison.
The black car, which costs upwards of £15,000, had three young men inside and hit the wall so hard bricks shot through nearby windows.
One home needed its whole front door boarded up because of the damage, while a second boarded off its front window.
Anthony Latta lives at the house the car was sat in front of, and was left with a destroyed wall, window and damaged door.
The 33-year-old struggled to get out of his home due to position the car was wedged in.
“It sounded like a bomb going off,” he explained.
“We thought something had broken the window or front door but when we went downstairs we realised it was more serious than we first thought.
“There was smoke and dust everywhere and a brick had smashed our window - it was hard to see.
“Luckily nobody was hurt and the police and fire service came out pretty quick.”
Mr Latta’s young children were in the house at the time but remarkably were not woken up by the loud bang.
Neighbour Paul Gammage heard the bang in the early hours and went out to check everyone was okay.
“It scared the crap out of me,” he said.
“There was a group of young boys who got out the car and the driver stayed while his mates went off to McDonald’s.
“It must have come flying round the corner.
“It’s just lucky nobody was hurt.”
His wife, who didn’t want to be named, detailed the long night the family had after one would-be thief was spotted on their Ring doorbell trying to ransack the ditched car.
She said: “We were back up at 4am after seeing someone open the door and snoop around.
“I looked on the camera and saw him pull his sleeve down and look around before trying to get in.
“I had to shout out the window to him and tell him to get lost.”
Two homes, which are near the roundabout at the junctions with Hardy Street and Fisher Street, were seriously damaged.
The air bag in the vehicle went off and the car was left with a badly damaged front right wheel.
The car stayed where it was for a number of hours as surveyors needed to come out to assess if there was any structural damage, the landlord confirmed.
A police spokesman said: “Kent Police was called at around 12.50am on Friday, August 5, to a report that a car had struck a property on Lower Boxley Road, Maidstone.
“Officers attended the scene along with the fire service where no injuries were reported.
“The driver was arrested on suspicion of drink driving and he was taken into custody.”
He has since been released pending further investigation.