A car span through the air and flipped onto its roof after crashing into a front garden.

The male driver and his female passenger, who had been travelling towards Worthing on the A24 just before 8.30pm yesterday, escaped the wreckage with only minor injuries.

Their silver Ford Sierra crashed after smashing into a parked car on the driveway of the grade II listed home in Findon on the corner of Bost Hill and Findon Road.

Trudi Flack, who lives at the 18th century cottage with husband Martin, was at home alone when the crash happened.

She said: "I was on the phone sitting by the wall and I heard a big screech and a big clunk. It sounded like an accident so I went out the front door and suddenly realised there was a car upside down in our garden.

"I heard noises from the car. I tried knocking on the door next door, but there was no answer, so I just rang 999."

The couple, who moved in just three months ago, believe the accident could cost them hundreds of pounds.

Part of an ancient flint wall was demolished, along with a fence, hedge and bird table. The Sierra is also thought to have damaged phone lines, disconnecting phones in the area.

The car in the driveway belonged to a friend of Mr Flack, who had been out at the time of the accident, and returned to see extensive damage to the vehicle.

Fire crews from Worthing and Findon used lifting equipment to remove the car from the drive.

A spokesman from Worthing Fire Station said: "The guy came down from the the north, down the A24. He lost control of his car across the carriageway.

"It gained height somewhere along the line, which took it over a four or five foot hedge. He landed it upside down.

"Two people in the car got out themselves and were later conveyed to hospital."

Mrs Flack added: "I was going to plant a plant yesterday. I would have been standing right by the road. We would have been killed if we had been out there.

"I was totally in shock. I was shaking. A witness came over and I came inside. The ambulance people came in to see to me, and I said it should be them outside you are looking after.

"We were worried about the people. We didn't know if they were dead or alive, apart from the murmurs and squeals."