A WOMAN had a lucky escape after she acciden-tally drove her car into the front of a neighbour’s garage.

The accident, which took place at 12.40pm on Tuesday last week, in Martins Wood, Chineham, involved a Ford Focus driving through the central pillar of a double garage.

A 33-year-old woman was in the house at the time of the crash. The woman, who did not want to be named, told The Gazette: “I was sorting out the washing and heard this amazing bang, and at first I thought it was something upstairs.

“I opened the door of the garage and saw a car in there with a woman inside. She was very shaken and did not know what had happened. It was not her fault – it was just an accident.”

The collision knocked out the garage’s brick pillar and damaged the doors beyond repair. The driver, who is in her 50s, was not injured, and the car was driven out of the garage.

Firefighters were called to the house over concerns about the stability of the garage.

Crew manager Phil Phillips said the accident took place when the female driver attempted a parking manoeuvre in the driveway she shares with several of her neighbours.

He said the woman had only just started using the Ford Focus, which had been modified because the driver has a disability.

The cost of the damage to the garage had not been calculated when The Gazette went to press.

The husband of the woman who was in the house at the time thanked the firefighters and a housing officer from Basingstoke and Deane Council for their help.