A couple escaped unharmed when a runaway road resurfacer ploughed into the front of their home.

Joyce and Gordon Pope emerged from their bungalow in Penn Crescent, Haywards Heath, at 8.45am yesterday to discover the machine had careered over their gate, squashing a mobility scooter and tearing down metal handrails.

The vehicle came to a halt just inches from the couple's front living room window where minutes earlier Mrs Pope had been eating her breakfast and watching the weather forecast on the television.

The 82-year-old said: "I got up to feed the cats and have my breakfast while my husband was having a lie-in.

"I had just heard the weather when I looked out of the window and saw this massive machine in the road.

"As I was doing the washing up I heard a crackling noise and I went back through to see this machine was in our driveway, that my husband's buggy was underneath and it was almost coming through the window."

The planing machine was being used for week-long road-resurfacing works in nearby Oathall Avenue when it was left unmanned with the engine running.

The vehicle began moving and rolled into Penn Crescent.

Teams from Brandon Contracting had been on site for just 24 hours when the incident happened after being drafted in by West Sussex County Council to complete the scheme.

Highways officers from the council said the vehicle had been left with the keys in the ignition and the engine running.

Mrs Pope said: "I was so surprised to see this machine. You don't usually wake up to that sort of thing in the morning.

"But the company has cleared up and is sending someone round to look at the garden and my husband's scooter.

"My husband and I are so ancient we are quite prepared for anything now!"

A structural engineer was called out to inspect Mr and Mrs Pope's home while police officers also arrived to help remove the vehicle.

A spokesman for Brandon Contracting confirmed one of its machines had been involved in an incident involving a private property in Haywards Heath and an investigation was now under way.