A HOUSEHOLDER has told how bricks and breeze blocks flew only inches past his head when a car hit his home as he sat watching TV.
Matthew Fleming had to crawl from his wrecked house through a hole left by the car.
The 27-year-old was treated in hospital for neck and back injuries after the drama in Borrowash.
Mr Fleming said: "I was sitting in almost the perfect position for the bricks to miss me. Had I been sitting maybe six inches to the left of where I was, the bricks and breeze blocks would have hit me on the head.
"If that would have happened I wouldn't be speaking to people now."
Now the fitness-mad BUPA worker has been told he will be off work for weeks while he recuperates from his injuries.
The accident happened at about 1.30am on Saturday, in Nottingham Road.
A BMW left the road and smashed through railings and then into the side of three terraced houses, one of which Mr Fleming rents.
He was watching sci-fi series Taken when the collision smashed the house wall into the back of his sofa, jolting it forward.
Three women, including the 19-year-old driver of the vehicle, were taken to hospital after police, paramedics and the ambulance service arrived at the scene.
Mr Fleming, who grew up in Alvaston and whose parents live in Spondon. said: "It all happened in slow motion.
"I was sat on the sofa watching TV when I heard the screeching of a car outside.
"Next thing I know there was this massive screeching of brakes and this almighty bang.
"I ended up being jolted forwards. Bricks were flying past my head just a few inches from my face.
"It was surreal, but the adrenaline kicked in and I crawled out of the hole which the car had made at the front of the house and out into the street."
Mr Fleming said he and his neighbours watched the three women climb out of the car.
He said one was holding her head, which looked as though it had been cut.
He said: "They were all in shock. You could see it on their faces.
"One was holding her lip. They just started holding on to each other.
"I called the police and emergency services arrived a few minutes later.
"I looked at the damage. The railings and the walls of the properties had been smashed to bits."
After giving statements to the police, Mr Fleming said he was taken to a friend's house but the pain in his back and neck became "unbearable" and he was taken to the Royal Derby Hospital.
He said doctors took X-ray pictures and his neck was put in a temporary brace.
He said: "I've been told I will be off work for weeks.
"They said I won't be able to do any exercise for a few weeks too.
"I go to the gym and I box so that, and being off work, is a big wrench for me."
A police spokesman said officers were continuing to investigate the cause of the accident.
