A FORMER ITV weatherman and his partner have been left homeless after a car demolished part of their cottage in the early hours of Sunday morning.

John Bannister said only a couple of hours earlier he and his partner, Eileen Blastland, had been sitting in the lounge watching snooker.

"We'd have been killed if the car had come into the house then. There is no doubt about it," said Mr Bannister.

The TV veteran who had lived in the cottage for 20 years said he and his partner were in bed fast asleep and didn't even hear the Ford Fiesta smash into the home, leaving the property structurally unsound. Three quarters of the vehicle was inside the cottage, in Hanbury Road, and there was no sign of the driver or occupants.

"The first I knew about it was when I was woken with knocking on the door at around 1.45am. I came downstairs and saw five or six firemen looking back at me through a gaping hole in the lounge."

Mrs Blastman added: John called me downstairs and all I thought was: "Oh God, whatever's happened?" We honestly never heard a thing and we were asleep in the bedroom directly above the lounge. I couldn't believe the mess and damage.

"We are both shaken, but John is particularly upset because he has lost a lot of porcelain he has been collecting. All the lounge furniture has been smashed. There is glass all over the place and the force of the crash has sent bricks right to the back of the house. We're told the ceiling and bedroom floor have also been affected," said Mrs Blastland.

They have been told not to back inside until structural engineers have been out to assess the damage on Tuesday.

"Hereford and Worcester Fire Service has been wonderful in boarding up the front of the house and Pam and Ray from The Vernon pub just opposite have said we can stay there. We are really grateful to everyone. We just don't know how long it is all going to take."

She said she didn't know who rang the police and fire service, but said whoever was in the crashed car had fled.

"I am amazed they survived the crash. Three quarters of the car was in the lounge and it had knocked down part of the roadside barrier, the front wall and a gate post.

"It's so dark around here. There are no street lights and it is a very fast and dangerous stretch of road."

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said they were still investigating the crash and no one had yet been arrested.