Two injured as cars hit house and bus stop

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Woman passenger hurt as car hits house and driver seriously injured after hitting bus stop



A Coventry family and the occupants of a car were lucky to escape serious injury after a car ploughed into a house in Earlsdon - although another motorist was badly hurt following a collision with a bus stop and railings in Hall Green Road.

The first crash happened on Earlsdon Avenue South at around 6.45pm yesterday (Saturday 10), and an ambulance spokesman said the car hit the house with such force it was embedded three quarters of the way into the hallway.

The spokesman added: “The woman passenger in the car, believed to be 41 years old, suffered neck, pelvic and leg injuries and was treated while still in the vehicle.

"She was extricated from the car with the assistance of the fire service and transferred by land ambulance to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire for further treatment.

“The man driving the car, believed to be in his late 40s was uninjured in the crash.

“Considering the damage to the house, the two adults, two children and a dog that were inside at the time of the crash were extremely fortunate not to have been injured.”

The second incident took place in Hall Green Road just before 5.30am today.

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “Crews arrived to find a car that had left the road and been in a significant collision with a bus stop and some railings.

“A man who was travelling in the car was trapped in the vehicle and received emergency treatment before being released with the assistance of the fire service. The man, believed to be in his 30s, was treated for serious leg, neck, back and chest injuries.

“The man’s condition was stabilised and he was then transferred to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire Major Trauma Unit for further emergency treatment.”

He added that two ambulances and a paramedic officer had attended the scene.

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Man charged with dangerous driving after crashing car into Earlsdon house



A man has been charged with dangerous driving, failing to provide a specimen for analysis and failing to stop following a collision after the car he was driving crashed into a house in Earlsdon.

John Woodhead, an insurance clerk from Kenilworth, will appear at Coventry Magistrates Court on May 23.

The 44-year-old has been bailed until then.

The charges follow the crash, in Earlsdon Avenue South, at 6.45pm on Saturday.

The family inside the house had an incredible escape when a high-powered car smashed into their home as they watched television in the living room.

The valuable Audi S8 went so far into the home in that the occupants inside the house were trapped.

Fire crews spent two hours removing the car from the large detached property and checking it was structurally stable after the crash.

Incredibly the only person to be seriously hurt was the woman passenger in the car.

She suffered neck, pelvic and leg injuries and was taken to University Hospital, Walsgrave.

The two adults, children and dog who were in the house all escaped injury.

A neighbour said: “We felt the bang. The younger children and the mum were in the front room. It took a while for them to get out. The car went straight between the family’s car and the bush.

“There’s not a scratch on their car. Initially we looked out of the window and couldn’t see a thing – then we realised what happened.

“Obviously the family were really shook up, but no-one was badly hurt.”

Pictures taken by firefighters from the scene show the car three-quarters of the way inside the home. The front of the property is now boarded up.

Crew commander Glenn Mallabone, from West Midlands Fire Service, said: “The car had gone straight through the entrance and took all the entrance out and brought the stairs down.

“It just missed the living room and ended up breaking in to the kitchen area.

“The family were in the front room watching the television and they were trapped because the car was across their exit.

“The house is right opposite a junction so I think the car had come up the road and just not stopped.

“It’s literally gone on the drive, up the drive and straight through the front door. The only thing it hasn’t done is ring the doorbell.”

A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “The man driving the car, believed to be in his late 40s was uninjured in the crash.

“Considering the damage to the house, the two adults, three children and a dog that were inside at the time of the crash were extremely fortunate not to have been injured.”

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Man jailed after crashing car into front Earlsdon family's home



An insurance clerk who crashed his car through the front of a family home in Coventry has been jailed.

John Woodhead, 44, who had been drinking, was jailed for 18 months and banned from driving for five years.

He smashed his Audi through the front of a home and into the hallway of a house in Earlsdon Avenue South, Earlsdon last month.

The Judge told him he could have killed all three children in the house if they had been playing in the front room.

Rejecting an argument that John Woodhead could be given a suspended sentence with an alcohol programme, the judge at the crown court in Leamington said his main duty was to protect the public.

Woodhead, of Bridge Street, Kenilworth, pleaded guilty to charges of driving his Audi S8 dangerously in Earlsdon Avenue South, Earlsdon, Coventry, and failing to provide a specimen for analysis.

Prosecutor Andrew Wilkins said that on May 10 the police received a 999 call about what officers described as a ‘road traffic accident.’

In fact what had happened was that the powerful Audi had gone straight through the front of the McCutchion family’s home in Earlsdon Avenue South, destroying the door and part of the wall, and into the hallway where it smashed into the stairs.

The 999 caller was Alister McCutchion who was trapped upstairs because of the damage to the stairs, and could not get to his wife and three children, aged four, six and eight, who were downstairs.

His wife and two of the children had just gone into the lounge where they were also trapped, while their oldest child, who had been in the kitchen, rushed out into the garden with their pet Labrador.

In the smoke and dust, Mr McCutcheon clambered down the partly-destroyed stairs to try to help the occupants of the car.

But Woodhead climbed out of the driver’s window and walked out of the house, leaving his injured partner in the Audi, and began making his way from the scene of devastation.

A witness who had seen him climbing out of the car tried to speak to him, and formed the opinion he was drunk.

Woodhead claimed his brakes had failed, which was not true, and continued to walk away, and when he was arrested nearby he refused to take a breath test.

Mr Wilkins, who said the family had had to move out of their home because of the damage, added that Woodhead had two previous convictions for failing to provide specimens.

Richard Hendron, defending, conceded that Woodhead had been in trouble before for two driving matters, but that he had been ‘in no trouble at all’ for five years.

“He is clearly trying to sort his life out. He is trying to be a law-abiding citizen.”

Mr Hendron said that on that day Woodhead and his partner had been to a funeral, after which he had been drinking, which he should not do because of medication he is on.

He observed that nobody in the house was injured, but Recorder David Bright snapped: “More by luck than judgment. That was a family home. There could have been family members in the sitting room, where families often are in their own home.”

Of Woodhead’s drinking, Mr Hendron said: “He suffers from an illness. Surely one of the objectives should be to ensure that Mr Woodhead does not do anything like this in the future.

“He has not been recommended for an alcohol treatment order. It is my submission this would be the best thing for him and for the public at large.”

He added that Woodhead was a part-time carer for his parents, particularly his mother, and if he was jailed he would also lose his job as an insurance assessor and his partner would not be able to afford the rent on their flat.

Recorder Bright responded: “He has had chances in the past. I have a duty to have the public interest in mind.”

And he told Woodhead: “I take into account the fact that you tendered pleas of guilty at the first opportunity, and I also take into account your public apology to the family.

“But you should come to terms with the reality of what you do, which is criminal offending because of your failure to limit your drinking and your behaviour.

“You, through your counsel, ask me to take into account your mother’s position and your girlfriend’s position. My response is that that is something you should have been bearing in mind.

“This is the third time you have refused to provide a sample. I hope I live in the real world, and have concluded why that was. You say it is because you have a distrust of the police. That is wholly unacceptable.

“You drink, and you choose to drink, and have no sense of the limits. You simply seem to disregard the effects it has on you, and then you get into a motor car and off you drive.

“A drunken man at the wheel of a car is a man in charge of a weapon that can kill.

“You drove into the wall of someone’s home, straight through the wall into the sitting room. This is the home of a mother and father and three young children. They have had to move out of their home because of your drunken behaviour.

“You’re very fortunate they were not in the living room. You could have killed all three children if they had been playing in that room.

‘‘ This is not the first time you have been in trouble because of drink. Why should the court take into account your mother and your girlfriend if you’re not bothered to. The next glass of alcohol is what bothers you.

“The court’s duty is to protect the public from drivers like you. The time to show you mercy has gone.”