A 91-year-old Bermondsey pensioner was left shocked yesterday afternoon when a car suddenly collided into his front garden, completely demolishing his wall.
Bill Brenland, a resident of Southwark Park Road, had been making his way into his kitchen shortly before 4pm when he heard a ‘tremendous bang’ – which he first thought was a bomb going off.
An initial bang is thought to be the car colliding with another – which did not stop, he said – before the vehicle tore through his garden wall.
“I was on my way to the kitchen when I heard this tremendous bang. I thought a bomb had gone off!” said Bill, a lifelong Southwark resident.
“A car must’ve collided with that one but the next bang was that car hitting the wall. From all the banging I thought he actually hit the door.”
The collision has totally destroyed Bill’s garden wall, and left chunks of brick strewn across the ramp he uses to get in-and-out of the house.
“It threw lumps of concrete up my ramp which I use for my scooter,” said Bill, who used to work in construction.
“Sometime last year a car whacked it, but that was just a few bricks. It’s going to bugger me up, how can I get out on my scooter with all that there?
“And the noise – it’s bad enough when the bin men come!”
While an ambulance was called for shook-up Bill, he is safe-and-sound after the incident and his ramp has been cleared of rubble.
Bill’s garden wall will now have to be painstakingly rebuilt by council officials.
“They won’t be able to [just] replace it,” Bill explained – as the pensioner lives in a conservation area, meaning other types of brick will not be allowed to be used.
Police have also been informed of the other vehicle thought to have been involved in the incident, he added, which Bill’s family and friends suspect did not stop.