WHEN mum Julie Livesley shut the door of her delightful detached home to go and pick up ten-year-old daughter Vicky from school, she could never have guessed at the nightmare scene of devastation which awaited her return.

To her horror, Julie came home to find flashing blue lights of emergency vehicles packed outside her house, which looked as though World War III had broken out there with a car embedded in her living room.

Now she is thanking her lucky stars that a stop-off at a post office on their way home meant that they were not sitting in the room when the accident happened.

Julie arrived home at Kingfisher Drive, Haresfinch on Friday, to discover that a car had smashed through the living room bay window and was embedded in her house! Remarkably, the woman driver of the vehicle escaped with only minor injuries.

The living room and its contents are destroyed. And although Julie, husband Ray, son Gary and daughter Vicky say that they are "devastated" by the damage, they are just so relieved that nobody was in the house at the time.

Standing in the remnants of her wrecked living room Julie told the Star: "The thought that if we had returned to the house five minutes earlier, Vicky would have been in the living room keeps going through my mind"

Horrendous

Husband Ray, aged 46 and a sales manager, echoed these words when he said: "The thought of what could have been is just horrendous. If Julie hadn't stopped at the post office on her way home or if she had took my car like on the previous day they could have been in the house".

But their recently decorated room is in ruins. Rubble from the bay window is scattered across the floor, furniture has been smashed to splinters, a television wrecked and there are large holes in the walls. They are awaiting a damage report from a structural engineer but there is the possibility that the whole front of the house may need to be rebuilt.

The family of four are now left to pick up the pieces from their shattered house and will have to find temporary accommodation.

Julie said she feels, "Numb and devastated. I'm stuck in limbo and want to pack my things up but I've got nowhere to go".

Julie and Ray said that they would like to thank the police and the rescue services for their actions. And they also paid tribute to neighbours for their support. Julie said: "I would like to send a real thank you to the neighbours, who have been absolutely superb". lRAY Livesley surveys the wreckage of the family living room.