Lucky lie-in: Royal Mail lorry destroys house... but homeowner escapes because he spent an extra 10 MINUTES in bed
A 61-year-old homeowner revealed today how oversleeping by 10 minutes saved his life after a Royal Mail lorry smashed into his house.
Len Wiles, of Gosport, Hampshire, said he usually goes downstairs at 5.45am and switches on the TV - but he did not get out of bed at the normal time yesterday after having a bad night's sleep.
The former aircraft company worker and his wife Anne, 66, had to be rescued from the upper floor of their £160,000 home after the 7.5-tonne lorry crashed into the property at 5.47am yesterday.
Mr Wiles told the Daily Mirror: 'I usually go down at 5.45am and switch on the TV. But I had a bad night's sleep. If I had gone down like normal, I'd be dead.'
A fireman asked the couple if they were 'expecting a parcel' when he arrived to rescue them.
It is thought the driver of the Royal Mail lorry lost control of his vehicle and smashed into three parked cars before crashing through a brick wall and ploughing into the building.
'I'm hoping our buyer can hang on until the house is repaired - it's a beautiful house,' Mr Wiles said.
The driver of the lorry was checked over by paramedics at the scene, but was not thought to have been seriously injured in the impact.
Mrs Wiles said: 'We were fast asleep in bed when suddenly we heard a great big explosion and a crash. We thought there had been an accident outside on the road.
'My husband jumped out of bed and went out onto our landing. There was a gaping hole where the stairs were and the front of the lorry was embedded in it.'
Neighbour Nicola Dugan, 42, said: 'At about 5.45am I heard a massive bang, it was so loud it was like a bomb had gone off.
'I put on my pyjamas and rolled out of bed and saw a giant Royal Mail red lorry inside my next door neighbour's house.
'Our front door has been damaged as well as our gas pipe, because Len's car was pushed into our house,' she added. 'But the main thing is Les and Anne are fine - it's a miracle.
'He is retired and even said to me he woke up 10 minutes later than he normally did. If he had woken up then, he would have been in the front room and would have been in trouble.'
Mrs Dugan said she noticed the male Royal Mail delivery driver, who she thought was in his 50s, appeared 'dazed and shocked' after the crash.
'[He] said he had no idea what happened... He was wearing a full uniform including his full high-vis yellow coat, with the Royal Mail logo,' she added.
'I looked out of my window and saw Len upstairs, he was shocked, he looked scared,' Ms Dugan said. 'He shouted that he was okay and even said, "We've only just sold the house - what are we going to do?".'
A fire service spokesman said: 'The lorry crashed into the property cutting off the staircase leaving two people trapped upstairs in the house.
'Firefighters used an aerial ladder platform to rescue the people from the first floor of the house.'
The officer in charge, Paul Coates, said: 'Our crews were on scene quickly and worked hard to reassure and rescue the two people who were trapped on the first floor of the property.'
A Hampshire Constabulary spokesman confirmed that the lorry driver and the occupants of the house were uninjured.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service's Urban Search and Rescue team were called to the scene to assess structural damage to the property.
The house and neighbouring properties were evacuated as it was initially feared the semi-detached property could fall down when the lorry was removed.
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