Woman's shock as car full of teenagers ends upside down in her garden pond

Stella Lemmon, of Ersham Road, Hailsham, said: “It’s a miracle the passengers got out alive. I was terrified for them.”

Mrs Lemmon was at home at 9.30pm on Sunday when she heard a massive bang. She rushed outside to find a car sinking in her garden pond.

She said: “We had just come in from the garden where we had been having a barbecue when we heard the squeal of brakes and a loud bang.

“I looked out and saw a car sinking into the pond which is so big it is more like a lake.”

Mrs Lemmon immediately dialled 999 but as she did so two boys – believed to be in their late teens – started smashing their way out the vehicle.

They told her there were two others still inside.

“I was terrified at first but when the boys got out I was relieved.

“I counted them as they managed to get out. They where all young, strong and slim.

“If they were older they would not have managed it.

“They managed to smash through the car’s windows and clamber up the bank.

“But they were all soaking wet and frightened.”

The boys used her mobile phone to call their parents.

Nine months ago a Saab crashed through the same fence, dislodging a tree and causing a branch to rest over the pond.

Mrs Lemmon said the branch prevented the teenagers’ car from hurtling full-throttle into the water.

“It’s lucky they landed on it, ” she said.

“This is the ninth time a vehicle has smashed through the fence over the past 20 years.”

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “We were called at 9.30pm to reports a car had crashed through a fence.

“Breath tests were taken which were negative. No one was arrested. It’s obviously a very lucky escape.”

A spokeswoman for East Sussex County Council, which maintains the road outside Mrs Lemmon’s home, said: “We are working closely with the police to understand the underlying reasons why the accident happened and will review all aspects of the accident in light of this evidence.”