Suspected drink driver crashes into BOP house

A suspected drink driver has crashed into a beachside Bay of Plenty home, narrowly missing a couple and young child.

Emergency services were called to the home in Pukehina, east of Tauranga, around 11.30pm on Friday.

The driver, a man in his late 20s, appeared to have missed a corner as he headed along Pukehina Beach Rd in a new model sedan.

"He basically went through the barrier on the corner, through a fence, through a tree and into the house," says Pukehina Fire Chief Errol Watts.

"There were large strainer posts in the ground and somehow miraculously the car managed to go between all of them.

"If it had hit any of those I could imagine it would have gone end to end into the house and would have been a whole different story."

A couple and young child were inside the home a street back from the beach.

They were unharmed but shaken after the car crashed through ranch sliders and caved in the the side of the house.

"The only injury was to the driver who stood on a nail as he got out of the car."

He appeared to be upset with himself, saying he'd tried to avoid a cat, and was grateful no one was injured.

Damage to the house was substantial, says Errol, with firefighters having to cover the smashed ranch sliders with a tarpaulin to keep the weather out.

He estimates building costs could be in the $8000 to $10,000 range.

"It pushed a wall in and caved the side of the house right in. Completely wrote the car off."

Due to the location of the car and the bollards blocking the garden, it was difficult to remove the vehicle with a tow truck.

It also took some time to decide who was responsible for having the vehicle towed off private land.

In the end the vehicle was removed from the home and left outside the property to be removed by the vehicle's owner.

Police are dealing with the driver.

-Stuff/Phillipa Yalden

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