OAP escapes by 6ft as lorry hits cottage

A PENSIONER had a lucky escape after a lorry smashed into his Grade II-listed thatched cottage yesterday and came to rest just six feet from him.

Retired project manager Paul Hammond, 69, was typing on his computer at 6.30am when the lorry veered off the road and ploughed straight into his fourbedroom, 15th-century home.

The whole cottage shook as the impact sent bricks tumbling down around him.

Emergency services dashed to the scene and the driver, a man in his 50s, was rushed to hospital after initially being trapped in the vehicle’s cab.

A nearby thatched bus stop was also demolished.

Mr Hammond, who has lived in the £565,000 cottage in Breamore, Hants, for five years with his wife Gaynor, 66, said the lorry was still in place holding up one side of his house. He said: “I heard this strange grinding sound and the house started to shake. The next thing I know there was debris flying into the hall.

“I looked outside and there was this lorry. It was pretty dark and I couldn’t really see much.

“The lorry has taken out half of the side of the house – the oldest part. I just didn’t know what was happening.

“My wife, in bed upstairs, was woken up by it. She thought it was a clap of thunder. She’s a bit distressed about it at the moment.”