A COUPLE were left shaken after a car and crashed into the front of their cottage last night.

Pat Westgate, 60, was in the front room of her home, Cockshot Cottage, Highgate Hill, Hawkhurst, when a Vauxhall Astra smashed through two gardens before coming to a halt against the cottage's solid rock wall.

"I had just put the phone down and taken two steps away from the wall when I heard a terrific bang and all my stuff came towards me," said Mrs Westgate. "I was terribly shaken."

"I didn't know if it was a bomb or a chimney coming down. I just rushed outside to see a car with no-one in it."

The car also took out a fence, shrubs and trees in the couple's garden and left a huge dent in the front of their home. Fitted bookshelves and a bureau in their lounge were toppled by the impact which also shattered a window sending shards of glass into the room.

Mr and Mrs Westgate spent the rest of the evening at a neighbour's house as emergency gas and electricity services were called out to ensure the house was safe.

* A 22-year-old building labourer from Ticehurst, East Sussex, has been charged with a drink-driving offence. He has been bailed to appear before Sevenoaks magistrates on April 2.