A family have spoken of their horror after a skip lorry crashed through the front of their three-bedroom house leaving them homeless and killing their pet cat.
Lee Spiller, who lives at the home with his partner and her mother, was asleep upstairs when the lorry smashed into their house in Canvey, Essex at 9.30am on October 13.
The driver was thrown from the vehicle as it veered off the road and hit the front of the £250,000 semi detached home, according to eye witnesses.
While the family evacuated without injuries their rescue cat Austin had to be put down after being found under the rubble
Mr Spiller, 32, said: ‘I came down to make a cup of tea and check for any post. I saw something out of the corner of my eye and looked up and saw a lorry. I thought I must be seeing stuff.’
Lee’s partner, Emma Doughty and her mother, Julie Harper, had been working together at a nearby school when they received news of the incident.
They said that their living room is now ‘next door’.
The family are living in temporary accommodation and Emma’s brother Matthew has set up a fundraiser.
Ms Doughty said: ‘We’re still in quite a bit of shock. We stayed at Matt’s last night and did struggle to sleep.
‘We were here last night and waited until they got it out. It just about made it without pulling down the rest of the house.
‘Lee is really angry. Not so much angry at the driver, but angry at the situation.
‘We had Austin for 13 years. He was a really nervous little stray but turned into the most loving docile boy.’
The family have now been told there are a number of concerns over the structural instability of the home and no one can enter until the wall is rebuilt.
Matthew said: ‘We’re just waiting now. We’ve been told it could take months.
‘We stood there and watched as they brought the lorry and everything around it out of the house.
‘They’ve lost everything in that living room.
‘When they get to temporary accommodation, it’s going to be unfurnished. That’s why I set up the GoFundMe, to help them furnish a new place.’
The driver of the skip lorry was arrested on suspicion of driving whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs, suspicion of driving without due care and attention and suspicion of driving a vehicle in a dangerous condition.
He has been released under investigation for all three offences.
A spokesperson for the company who own the skip lorry, B W Rice, said: ‘Our main concern is that the people involved are all ok and that the police are doing their investigation’.
A spokesman for Essex Police said: ‘We are investigating and have made an arrest after a vehicle collided with a property in Canvey.
‘It was reported a skip lorry had collided with a property, causing substantial damage.
‘Thankfully no injuries were reported.’