A MOTORIST spun out of control and ploughed through a terraced home – killing two sharks and injuring a parrot.
The driver of a silver Vauxhall Astra careered into the dining room at the front of the property, smashing the fish tank and hitting a bird cage.
Luckily the homeowner, Joanne Taylor, her partner Craig Harding and her sons Nico, 13, and three-year
-old Lleyton, were sleeping upstairs at the time.
Police are now searching for the driver and passenger, who were seen running away from the scene in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, just after 2am Saturday morning.
Joanne said: "There was a massive bang and I could just hear screaming.
"We have been told the car was doing up to 90mph when it crashed into our dining room.
"If we had been in there we would have been killed. I'm devastated about the sharks, we'd had them for three years and they were part of the family.
"Nico has a heart condition and the shock alone could have killed him. Now I'm scared to go to sleep."
The family sharks died suffocated after being out of the water for too long while their pet parrot was left dazed.
Building inspectors from Stoke-on-Trent City Council were called out and supports were installed in the front wall to deal with suspected structural damage.
Neighbours rallied round to collect rubble from the house and the hole in the wall was filled with breeze blocks.
The front of the house is now considered unsafe and the family is staying in the back rooms.
Joanne added: "There are always accidents along here; it's a magnet for boy racers. We need speed ramps and cameras before someone is killed.
"This is one accident too many and we will definitely be moving house to live by a safer road now."
A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: "The occupants of the vehicle left the scene and inquiries have been commenced to trace the two occupants of the vehicle and the vehicle's ownership."
One was described by witnesses as aged between 20 and 30, 5ft 10in, and wearing jeans and a blue, stripy top.
The accident is the latest heartache for the family, coming two years after Joanne's 14-year-old daughter Chantelle died from the rare heart condition Long Q-T syndrome, which affects one in every 100,000 people.
Last December, son Nico was left with bleeding on the brain, a dislocated shoulder, and a hairline fracture on his knee after being hit by a car.
The full article contains 427 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
