Lucky to be alive

PENSIONERS Chaz and Rita Pitts fled their bungalow when an out-of-control car crashed into their home.

Mr Pitts, 68, was sitting in his lounge in Arundel Road, Peacehaven, watching television at around 10pm on Monday when the BMW car careered through his wall.

The force of the impact threw his TV and items of furniture across the room into the chair where he had sat all evening.

Fortunately, his wife Rita had just gone to bed and he had moved to her chair.

Leading firefighter Paul Kristiansen, from Newhaven Fire Station, spoke to Mr Pitts after the collision. 'He said he felt very lucky because he had been sitting in the other chair all evening. I asked "Why did you move" and he said he didn't know, he just changed chairs. He was a very lucky guy,' he said.

The severely shaken but unharmed couple are currently staying with their daughter in Peacehaven.

It is believed the driver lost control of the high-powered car as he turned from Arundel Road into Greenwich Way. He narrowly missed a telegraph pole, went through metal railings and the bungalow's fence before smashing into the wall.

The driver, who suffered only scratches, was breathalysed by police and arrested on suspicion of drink-driving.