A couple slept peacefully despite a car smashing through their garden wall just metres from the bedroom window.

Web designer Ben Tullett, 28, was tucked up with fiance Emma George, 24, when the car crashed through five brick pillars and fencing before landing in the garden.

One of the blocks smashed through the car's back window.

The driver was pulled from the wreckage by a neighbour after the accident on Saturday night.

The impact woke families in Cowley Drive, Woodingdean, but Ben and Emma carried on sleeping until woken by the sound of neighbours chatting outside.

The couple had just finished a £20,000 renovation of the house and spent four months finishing the garden.

Emma, a financial adviser, said: "We didn't hear anything.

"We woke up just after it happened and they were helping a woman out of the car.

"Our bedroom is directly above the garden but we have just had it double-glazed.

We were dead to the world.

"All we had to do was finish the garden so we were getting excited about the fact we could have people round for a barbecue."

Ben said: "There was a 5ft pillar sticking out of the back of the car.

"The driver would have been in a state if she had been hit by that."

The couple had spent £8,000 on the new wall and landscaping and were ready to lay the lawn and add the finishing touches.

Neighbour Stephen Palmer, 51, pulled the driver from the car after he heard the crash.

He said: "I was in bed and I heard an almighty bang.

"It sounded like an explosion.

"The car was really smashed at the front and one of the pillars had gone in the back end and ended up inside.

"I thought whoever was in that car was dead.

"There was a young lady inside and a really bad smell of petrol fumes.

"So I got her out through the window and disconnected the battery.

"I was amazed that she was not too badly injured. She was very lucky."

Before crashing into the garden the car clipped a parked car owned by Donna Smith, 31, also of Cowley Drive.

She said: "I heard the bang so I came out and was shocked by what I saw."

A police spokesman confirmed a woman had been arrested in connection with the accident.