An OAP got the shock of her life when she woke up and found a car crashed through her living room wall.
A deafening noise jolted 70-year-old Claudine out of her sleep around 6 am.
She told local media: “I heard a huge bang. At the time, I thought it was an aeroplane.”
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Claudine jumped out of bed and put on her glasses.
She was horrified when she saw that a car with several people inside had crashed through the bay window of her living room.
The OAP recalled: “Naturally, there was a lot of smoke in the house.
“I was afraid the car would explode, knowing that the gas meter had been torn off. I called the firefighters.
“Later, I saw a guy trying to flee. He was the driver, whom I saw coming back later with the police.
“Another young man and a young girl got out of the car, while someone else was trapped.”
It turned out the driver was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, local media reported.
He’d been driving at reckless speed and had failed to brake at a stop sign on Sunday (10 Mar).
The crash left Claudine’s cosy home in sleepy Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, southwest of Paris covered in debris, glass, and car parts.
She said: “It feels like a war zone.
“Right now, it’s the nerves that are keeping me going.
“But I can’t sleep anymore. I’ll go see my doctor because I think I need something to calm me down a little.”
Despite the trauma, the OAP admitted she feels lucky to be alive.
She explained: “The car hit the sofa, which was delivered to me last Monday.
“That evening, I’d thought to myself, ‘I’ll sleep on my sofa to try it out.’
“Because I’d bought this sofa bed for my granddaughters. They sometimes come to sleep here, but they don’t want to sleep upstairs anymore.
“And in the end, I thought, ‘No, I’m better off in my bed.’ Thankfully. Otherwise, I don’t think I’d still be here.
“Or I’d be injured. It just wasn’t my time.”
Claudine has since filed a complaint with the police.
She’s moved with her daughter in Saint-Avertin as her house gets fixed.
She said: “It could take between six and eight months. Easily.”
It’s not the first time Claudine’s house has been hit in the 45 years she’s been living there.
She said: “Once, a car hit the wall at the corner. And the gate, it must have been knocked down at least eight times.
“We asked the local authorities to do something. They put up a stop sign and a small speed bump.
“But it doesn’t really work. As you can see.
“I used to think I would grow old peacefully in my comfortable house. But I don’t think so anymore.
“As soon as I see a car coming, I feel a surge of anxiety.
“And there’s no way I’m letting my granddaughters sleep there.”
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