A CHADDLEWOOD family have spoken of their relief after a car careered through their front wall just missing their house.

The driverless burgundy Fiat Stilo mounted two pavements and a patch of grass before it smashed through a wall, stopping and hanging just feet from the house in Totnes Close.

A mechanic told the family the Fiat's brakes gave way and it rolled up to 30ft down the hill.

Tom Lapthorn, aged 22, was asleep upstairs when the incident happened yesterday at about 8.30am.

"I literally fell out of bed when the car hit," he said.

"The bang was so loud it woke me up and made me jump.

"When I looked out the window I thought I was seeing things.

"If the wall was not there the chances are that the car would have come through the front of the house.

"Worse still, it would have killed someone walking along the path."

His sister, Katie, was getting ready for school when the car struck.

"I heard a bang and thought at first that something had fallen out of the bedroom window," the 17-year-old Ridgeway School pupil said.

"When I looked down I couldn't believe what I saw. I was shocked that there was no-one in the driver's seat. It was very bizarre."

Their mother, Sally Lapthorn, had just returned home from working a night shift in Ivybridge when the incident happened.

The 48-year-old night care officer said: "It was a complete shock.

"At first glance I thought someone had parked on the grass but as I got closer I realised the car was actually in our garden.

"The doors were locked and the alarm light was still flashing. It was just very weird.

"You don't expect to find a car parked in your garden. I just started laughing thinking it just cannot be true.

"I couldn't believe my eyes."

Sally added: "It's just lucky that there were no school children walking along that path.

"It could have been much worse."

Sally says the family has "no idea" who the car belongs to and admit they hadn't seen it before.

Firefighters from Plympton fire station and police attended the scene.

Firefighters towed the Fiat out of the garden and, by 10am, a recovery truck had taken the car away.

The family fear their house may have suffered some structural damage as a result of large blocks of the wall striking the house.

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman confirmed they received a call at about 8.30am saying a car had run away into the property's garden and was hanging "precariously".

Anyone with any information about the incident should call the police on 08452 777 444