Two children escaped death by inches when a runaway car smashed through the wall of their living room after careering down a nearby steep hill.

The house, on Queen’s Avenue, Bolton, was left with severe structural damage after the BMW crashed through the garden wall, ploughed over the front garden and embedded itself in the plate glass window at the front of the house.

The children were only saved because the driverless car dropped into a two-metre gap between the garden and the front wall which slowed its speed as it hit the house.

Seven-year-old Aaqib Imran and his 14-year-old sister Adeena were watching TV at the back of the room, and were covered in thick dust as masonry collapsed and the car came to a halt barely feet away from them.

Firemen said they could have been killed had they been any nearer the “extreme devastation” at the front of the lounge.

Aaqib, who goes to Grove House Primary School, said yesterday: “I was sitting down on the sofa and the car just came in and I couldn’t see anything because of the dust flying everywhere.

“I thought it was just a dream. It was very shocking.”

Police believe the handbrake on the car could have failed after being parked on steep Queen’s Rise, opposite the house which is owned by Aley Imran who arrived home to find his home on the verge of collapse because its central support had been wiped out by crash.

He said: “We are amazed by what’s happened. The car rolled all the way down the hill and into our lounge.

“My daughter and son were sitting in the living room when it happened and they couldn’t believe it.

“Your home is supposed to be your safe haven where there is no danger. We are thankful nobody was injured because this could have been so much worse.”

Mr Imran, a cardio physiologist at Bradford Royal Infirmary, said he had been given the week off work to sort out the problem and said his family would have to live at the nearby Etap hotel until their home was made habitable.

Watch manager Rodger Binns, of Bradford fire station, said: “The children were very, very lucky because the way the garden was constructed meant there was a 2-metre void between the edge of the garden and the front window, which meant the car dropped down before hitting the front window.

“If that void had been smaller, the car would have gone all the way into the front room.

“Luckily the children were at the back of the living room because the devastation to the front of the house is extreme.

“The window has smashed and there’s a lot of debris within the first four metres of the room. If anyone had been at the front of the room, they would have been seriously injured or worse.”

A Bradford Council structural engineer was called to assess the property and deemed it to be “very unstable”. It has now been jacked up until rebuilding work can take place.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “It looks like it was a possible handbrake failure. Someone has got out of the car and the handbrake may not have been set properly.”

The incident happened shortly after 6pm on Monday.

e-mail: will.kilner @telegraphandargus.co.uk