A Bathgate couple are calling for action before there’s a fatality after a car crashed into their house in the middle of the night.
Lanna and John Mcdonald were asleep in their bed in the early hours of last Saturday morning when a red Vauxhall Astra ploughed through their neighbours’ fence and smashed into the front of their home in Kirk Road.
Lanna, 54, said: “It was 1am on the Saturday morning. We heard an almighty bang and it first I thought it was a mirror that had fell down in our hall as we’ve just decorated.
“John ran to the front door and shouted that someone had crashed into the driveway.
“The driver had lost control and went right through the neighbours’ fence, bent the metal handrail, and through a wrought iron railing that divides our house from theirs. It looks as if the car has taken off, as there’s a drop into the garden next door.
“He got out of the car and walked away and our neighbours ran out and got the guy. The police were there within 10 minutes.
“It was a real shock but we were thankful our three-year-old grandson wasn’t staying as he would have been sleeping in that front room and would have got the fright of his life.
“We have two dogs and one sleeps at the front door and there’s a hole at the side facing where one of the wrought-iron railings had come off like a spear and shot through.
“The police said it was lucky it never came through the window and hit the dog. There are a lot of ‘what ifs’.
“We have been crying out for speed bumps for years, and they keep telling us there’s not enough accidents. I’ve asked if there has to be a fatality first.
“A lot of people are coming back from the pub at that time in the morning. My uncle lives a couple of days down and normally comes home from the bowling club at that time, but he’s had a knee operation so thankfully he wasn’t out.”
Lanna continued: “Where he’s hit our house there is structural damage and we’re waiting on the insurance assessors coming out to see that. The council came out to put supports up and make sure nothing falls down.
“He’s hit the wall and the car’s slid right into my husband’s car and damaged that, and it looks as if it’s landed in a parking space.”
And it’s not just pedestrians who were fortunate in Lanna’s opinion, as the impact with John’s car prevented the vehicle from travelling any further following the impact.
“We’re lucky we’ve built a driveway there as there used to be a big drop there, like the neighbours’, and the car would have went down there and probably caused more damage.
“We’ve had more than a few accidents here. This is the first time our house has been hit but we’ve been here 27 years come May and every single year there have been accidents, either right outside our house or either side of it.
“It’s happened in a neighbour’s driveway and on the road. Our house sits right on a bend.”
A West Lothian Council spokesperson said: “We are unable to comment on this individual incident as we do not know the actual confirmed details.
“We can confirm that West Lothian Council has an annual casualty reduction programme and if this incident has been recorded at site by Police Scotland then we will receive the official recorded data from the Police which will be assessed in a future casualty reduction programme.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 1am on Saturday, 11 January, 2025, we were called to a report of a car crashing into a property in the Kirk Road area of Bathgate. Officers attended and there were no injuries.
“A 40-year-old man was arrested and charged in connection with a road traffic offence. He is due to appear in court at a later date.”
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