TWO teenagers were lucky to escape with their lives when their Audi ploughed into a house last week.
Neighbours who rushed to their aid thought the pair, believed to be 19, must be dead.
The car had careered through a front garden and smashed into a house in Higher Drive, Banstead, at 7.20am on Friday, leaving a trail of destruction.
The impact was so severe that the car's engine was propelled into the back garden.
Police investigators believe the Audi A3 Quattro was going "at speed" when it failed to take a right-hand bend.
Angela Veglio, the owner of the house they smashed into, said a guardian angel must have saved her life.
The crash initially appeared so serious the Metropolitan Police's road death investigation unit was called in.
As he conducted his scene investigations, officer PC Traylor said: "The car came down this road negotiating the right-hand bend at speed. It lost control going around the bend, mounted the kerb, and went down the driveway of the house, demolishing the gatepost wall.
"It collided with the back of a car parked in the driveway and has gone head first into the corner of the house. It has completely demolished the corner of the house and pushed the side of the house back at least a metre."
Firefighters cut the two men out of their car. They were taken to St George's Hospital in Tooting but were reported to not have life-threatening or life-changing injuries.
PC Traylor added: "The drive unit of the car has completely come out and is sitting in the back garden. When you look at the damage in the car, they were incredibly lucky. There is no space between the passenger seat and the dashboard. It is major devastation."
Miss Veglio, 47, was, unusually, still in bed when the car smashed in to her house.
She said: "I was in bed watching the box when it happened. I thought it must be a thunderstorm, I thought the house had been hit by lightning.
"It has taken out the library wall, the windows, a bit of the roof. There is debris all over the garden. I haven't got my head around what's happened.
"I normally get up earlier. I would normally have been downstairs at that time, possibly in the library. A guardian angel must have been looking over me."
Neighbours rushed to the scene following the impact, which some said sounded like an explosion.
Tracey Larkins checked to see if the driver was alive.
She said: "The guy who got there first thought he was dead. He wasn't conscious, his head was on the airbag.
"I put my fingers against his neck and found a pulse. Then I talked to him until he came round. I asked where they had been, and he said 'here, there and everywhere'.
"They had been out since 2am, he told me."
