High-speed car smash into house

A 20-YEAR-OLD motorist had a lucky escape after a high-speed smash which demolished the front of a house in Roundthorn yesterday.

The man, who was driving a Ford Focus, had to be cut free from the vehicle — but not until emergency crews shored up the wall of the house in Roundthorn Road.

Paramedics, firefighters and police worked together to release the trapped man, who was thought to have serious head and spinal injuries. He was taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital where today he was said to be in a stable, but not serious, condition.

A young man who was asleep upstairs when the car smashed into the house was told to stay where he was until the wall was made safe.

The car smashed into the wall with such force it went straight into the front room and demolished an inside wall, leaving cracks in the brickwork around the front door.

The young man’s mother was out at work, and she returned home to find the emergency operation under way.

Neighbour Zoe Salter said: ‘She was in tears, but she calmed down when we told her her son wasn’t hurt.”

Mother-of-three Zoe was woken by the 2.30am smash, and said: “I heard a loud crack and looked out of my bedroom window to see the car had gone through the wall of the house.”

Another neighbour said the Ford first smashed into a parked red Suzuki Swift before it veered off the road.

He said: “It hit it with some force — it completely annihilated the front of the house.”

Elaine Oldham had just gone to bed when she heard the commotion. She said: “I heard a bang and the noise was so intense I looked out to see what was happening.

“I saw another car screech to a halt so quickly smoke was coming from the wheels.”

The Focus was heading away from Oldham towards Abbeyhills Road when it crossed the carriageway and ploughed into the house.

Firefighters said its front wall was completely destroyed, and the upper wall was hanging over the car with the injured man inside.

They worked to get the driver out, with the entire wall threatening to collapse until it was supported from below.