A SHAKEN family are left counting the cost after a car smashed into their home in the early hours of the morning.

A Skoda Fabia crashed into the house on Sloe Hill, in Halstead, at 3.51am on Monday causing an estimated £6,000 of damage.

Madison Howard-Abott, 20, lives in the house with her mum Mandy Bayes and step-dad David.

She said: “I was waking up at the time to go to the toilet and as I walked upstairs I heard a horrendous crash.

“At the time I was confused and frightened because I didn’t know what the noise was.

“Once I realised they had gone into the house I screamed and woke my parents up.

“By the time I went to the front of the house to open the door the car had reversed out.”

Madison praised the work of Essex Police following the crash, saying they were “excellent” after arriving just 15 minutes after being called.

The repair costs to the building are expected to be around £6,000 on top of the damage to the fence which surrounds the house.

The front of the house needs to be rebuilt and the impact from the crash has caused the porch to move which needs to be re-plastered and decorated. The house has now been boarded up.

Madison added: “We are still very shaken from the trauma.”

The family live on a stretch of Sloe Hill which currently has a 60mph speed limit.

A recent planning application for nine homes on the road calls for the 30mph zone to be extended

A spokesman from Essex Police said: “We were called at 3.55am on Monday, February 4, with reports a Skoda Fabia was in collision with a house on Sloe Hill, Halstead.

“The car failed to stop.

“A search was carried out and a 20-year-old man from Chelmsford was reported for careless driving.”