A family has had a lucky escape after a car ploughed into their front bedroom in Berwick on Thursday 16 July.
Emergency services were called to the scene at Homestead Road after reports an out-of-control car had crashed into a single-storey house, causing structural damage about 3.40pm.
A Victoria Police spokesman said Casey Highway Patrol were investigating and have charged a 36-year-old Berwick man, who returned a positive drug test and was found to be driving on a suspended licence.
“He is expected to appear at court at a later date charged with drive whilst suspended, careless driving and exceeding the prescribed concentration of drugs,” the spokesman said.
Ambulance Victoria said paramedics attended and assessed one person but they had not required hospitalisation.
Narre Warren SES crew leader Marcus Denning said the driver was out of the car by the time crews arrived.
He said it’s believed the car in question, a Toyota Camry, had lost control and collided with another vehicle before careering off the road and taking down a neighbour’s fence. The car then came to rest at the house’s front bedroom.
Mr Denning said fortunately no one was injured in the crash, with an Indian couple and their two children in another section of the house at the time.
“It’s gone through the fence … from where it’s hit the car it’s probably slowed,” he said, following reports the car was allegedly speeding.
He said the couple of the home were visibly “shaken up” and “couldn’t believe” what had happened.
“They stood outside for the whole entirety until everything was cleared.”
Mr Denning said all the front windows were broken, leaving a substantial amount of glass on the ground as crews used acro-props to stabilise the house while they placed tarps over the windows.
Apart from smashed windows, he said damage to the house appeared to be on the “milder side”.
Mr Denning said he was alarmed by the amount of call-outs that involved vehicles colliding into buildings, which had equated to about one every fortnight.
“Unfortunately it’s only a matter of time before real tragedy will strike,” he said.
“It’s quite a concern that our area seems to have people who through either extreme negligence or speeding are doing these sorts of things.”
A CFA spokesman said some smoke was initially reported but no fire erupted and no one was trapped in the vehicle. Firefighters from Berwick and Narre Warren remained on-site until 4pm.
