A Ballarat carpenter has been forced to pick up the pieces of his recently renovated verandah after an unlicensed driver ploughed into the Eureka Street property on Wednesday afternoon.
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Police were called to the property at 524 Eureka Street at 12.53pm after a Suzuki Vitara veered off the road, crashing through the fence before ending up on the front verandah.
The homeowner, who did not wish to be named, said he had continually worked on the property since first purchasing the home five years ago and had recently completed the front verandah.
The vehicle came to a halt just metres from the front room which has been converted into a nursery for the man and his partner’s expected baby.
“The neighbour called me about 40 minutes after it happened, the car’s ended up parked on the front verandah,” the homeowner said. “I’ve been working on (the verandah) on and off over a couple of years, it’s got all new weatherboards.
“It’s taken out 10 metres of the front fence, the deck out the front and all of the verandah posts,” he said. “It’s pretty frustrating because (the renovations have) all been for nothing.”
The female driver was taken to the Ballarat Base Hospital for observation. Police are continuing to investigate the crash and are waiting on blood tests to assess whether the driver was intoxicated or under the influence of drugs.
Police are also calling for information from anyone who may have seen the vehicle driving before the crash.
“We’re appealing to anyone who might have witnessed the vehicle driving earlier in the day to contact police,” Senior Constable Craig Walker said.
A similar incident occurred back in February 2015 just doors up from Eureka Street, when a 21-year-old male drink driver struck a tree and flipped his car at 2.30am. He was taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition.
Back in April 2014 police issued a similar warning for the same stretch of road following an “avoidable” crash where two vehicles collided at the intersection of Eureka Street and King Street.
Three people had to be taken to hospital following the collision after a vehicle failed to obey a give way sign.
The homeowner said drivers regularly ignored the speed limits along Eureka Street given the length of the road and the lack of intersections to slow traffic.
“Eureka Street is such a big long road and there's no roundabouts so people fly around the corners,” he said. “It’s probably going to get worse because they’re building a childcare centre down the road and there’s lots of new bus stops as well.
“We thought we were lucky the house wasn’t hit the first time.”
