Drunk driver crashes into house

Barrie Wood had just left his lounge when a car came flying through two fences, two walls of his house and landed on the couch he was sitting on minutes earlier.

Mr Wood and his seven flat mates were woken at 12.30am this morning by the blue Holden smashing into their Walmsley Rd, Favona lounge.

The vehicle, driven by a 25-year-old man, left State Highway 20 at the Walmsley Rd exit when it lost control, said a Counties-Manukau Police spokeswoman.

Mr Wood said the car must have been travelling fast.

"The car has kept on coming off the ramp towards the intersection, through the neighbour's roadside fence. It landed in their yard and then come across and took out the fence between myself and that neighbour and then came into my lounge."

The car took out two walls of Mr Wood's house, destroying a ranch slider, multiple windows and causing the roof to crumble.

He estimated the damage could be up to $40,000 and that the 10 bedroom home that houses eight could be without a living room for a month.

"I had only left the lounge 30-minutes before it happened so I would have been shunted, I was sitting on the settee the car hit."

The impact made a huge noise, which woke the household and many neighbours, said Mr Wood.

Police arrived quickly at the scene and the driver was charged with driving with excess breathe alcohol and dangerous driving, said the police spokeswoman.

He was summonsed to appear at Manukau District Court, she said.

Officers stayed at the scene until 3am, and a tow truck removed the vehicle this morning.

By Morgan Tait of the New Zealand Herald

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