A woman had a miracle escape after her car shot across a road, smashed through railings and nose-dived in to the patio of a basement flat.

Driver Pat Goring, who is in her 70s, was left dangling by her seatbelt for an hour while emergency services worked to free her.

She was released by an ambulance crew and treated for shock at hospital.

She had just started the engine of her automatic car when it shot out of a parking space, across the road and pavement and through the flat's railings.

Flat owner Betty Cawthorne was trapped inside while emergency crews moved the car.

She had been sat watching the lunchtime news on television when the Volvo crashed into her front patio garden in Palmeira Square, Hove, yesterday.

She told how judges from Brighton and Hove in Bloom had inspected the display she had entered in the competition just hours before the crash.

Mrs Cawthorne said: "My garden is ruined and the plants are destroyed but at least it happened after the judges had been.

"I am just glad the driver is all right. I have seen her to say hello to and pass the time of day but not much more.

"It is unbelievable she did not have any broken bones."

Mrs Cawthorne thought the fire escape at the back of the building had come down when she heard the car falling into the basement.

She said: "I went into the hall and saw glass and bits of railing all over the place and then thought burglars had smashed through the front door.

"My bedroom is at the front and when I went into it there was more glass, railings and bits of car everywhere.

"I could not get out of the front at all and had to wait until they had got the car out before I could get through the door."

Mrs Cawthorne was shocked but unhurt and was being comforted by relatives who were making arrangements for the damage to be repaired last night.

Courier Chris Sadler had just walked in front of the car after delivering a parcel to a neighbouring flat when the accident happened.

He said: "It was parked in a bay opposite the flat and there was a woman inside it.

"I walked in front of it and opened the door of my car which was parked two bays away.

"As I went to get into my car I heard the sound of tyres spinning and the Volvo shot across the road, hit the railings and nose-dived into the basement. There was a lot of smoke. I ran across to see if the driver was okay and then phoned the emergency services."

David Humphrey, a meter reader for Siemens, ran from the opposite side of Palmeira Square after hearing the crash.

He said: "I just heard an almighty bang and saw black smoke coming from the basement. I ran across and asked someone to get a bucket of water in case the car went up in flames."

Keith Ingram said he had been driven back to Palmeira Square in the Volvo by Mrs Goring's son Jack, a chef at Langfords Hotel in Third Avenue, Hove, after they had played golf together.

He said: "He parked the car and we went up to the flat and a little while later his mother came down and got into it. It looks like she has put her foot on the accelerator instead of the brake and the car shot across the road."

PC Paul Bedford, of Brighton and Hove road policing unit, said Mrs Goring was conscious and talking to rescuers as they worked to free her.

He said: "It appears the driver has become confused and thought she was hitting the brake instead of accelerator as the car went forward. Thankfully, she was wearing her seatbelt, which saved her from serious injury.

"So many drivers these days do up their seatbelt as they drive away but in this case it had been fastened. The lady who lives in the basement flat was not in the front room at the time but was unable to leave the building afterwards as a result.

"She was not injured but was pretty shocked. We managed to have a word with her at the back and told her to sit tight until we could get to her."

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: "Yesterday was the latest in a series of incidents in which cars have ended up in walls or basements in Brighton and Hove."