A family has spoken of a lucky escape after a car crashed into their house in the early hours of the morning.

Ely Standard: A car crashed into Michael and Katherine Lewis' home at Terrington St John, in the early hours of Sunday morning. Also pictured are their daughter Anna Lewis with grandchildren Evie (7) and Isla (4). Picture: Ian BurtA car crashed into Michael and Katherine Lewis' home at Terrington St John, in the early hours of Sunday morning. Also pictured are their daughter Anna Lewis with grandchildren Evie (7) and Isla (4). Picture: Ian Burt (Image: Archant)

Anna Lewis, 38, and her children Evie, seven, and Isla, four, were sleeping at her parents' house in Main Road, Terrington St John, near King's Lynn, when it happened at about 5am on Sunday.

She heard a loud bang and after checking on her children came downstairs to find a car had smashed through the wall.

Their gate, post and front door had been demolished, and there was a gaping hole in their front room.

She shouted for her parents to get out as soon as they could, as she feared the house was about to collapse.

Her two children had been sleeping in the upstairs front bedroom, just above where the car ploughed through the wall, with her in the bedroom next door. Her parents were at the back of the house.

CCTV footage taken by a neighbour shows a car crossing the road before ploughing into the front of the building. The female driver of the car is then seen to run away and is picked up by another car.

Ms Lewis said she was disgusted the driver abandoned the car, without finding out if anyone had been hurt.

'She must have heard my children screaming,' she said. 'The car's engine was still on and there was smoke coming from it. For all she knew it could have been about to blow up, and my children could have been hurt. We could have been killed.

'This will have a long-term effect on the whole family. I don't know if I will be able to ever come back and stay here.'

Her parents Michael, 63, and Katherine Lewis, 61, said a surveyor was due to visit the house today to assess the damage.

Mrs Lewis said: 'The girl driver has ruined our lives. We have loved living in this house for the last 12 years, but don't know if we will be able to stay here now.

'We were told that the thickness of the house wall prevented the car from coming further inside. The building's more than 100 years old.'

Mr Lewis said everyone in the house was asleep when it happened.

He said: 'I heard a loud bang and then the grandchildren were screaming. I thought it was thunder, but my daughter shouted that it was a car crashed into the house. Any other time and there would have been someone in the lounge - it's where the kids watch the TV. The front door was smashed in half.

'It was a lucky escape, but we are devastated. The worst thing is thinking about what could have happened.'

Their daughter and her children, who live in Liverpool, had been staying with them for about two weeks on holiday, and were due to go home on Sunday.

Mr Lewis, a self-employed builder, and his wife, a self-employed fitness instructor, said a local builder kindly boarded up the front of the house.

The CCTV footage was captured by the Premier convenience store next door, whose owner Jaz Bisla said: 'I heard a bang and then my tenant scream. I thought the shop was on fire, and then I went outside and saw the car had crashed into the house.'

A Norfolk police spokesman said: 'Police are investigating the collision and the female driver, who was spoken to at the scene prior to being taken to hospital, will be interviewed at a later date.

'The driver initially left the vehicle but returned to the scene a short time later.'