A driver was arrested on suspicion of drink and drug driving after a car smashed into a family's home.

Darren and Melissa Smith were at home in Allerton with their two children on Tuesday when they heard the sound of a loud bang outside. The noise came as a black Vauxhall Polo smashed through a barrier on Queens Drive and careered across the pavement into the family's garden wall.

The impact of the crash caused significant damage to the family's car, which was parked on the driveway, and caused a brick to smash through the front window of their home. Merseyside Police today confirmed a 26-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of drink and drug driving.

He has since been released pending further enquiries. The crash occurred at around 7am on Tuesday, November 14, just before the roundabout on Queens Drive.

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If the crash had occurred half an hour later, Darren, 50, said: "The kids would have been walking to school, it could have been horrendous."

Mum, Melissa, 51, was in the kitchen making a cup of tea at the time of the crash and was due to start work half an hour later in the same room where the brick smashed through the window.

She told the ECHO: "It's all of the what ifs of what could have happened. It's not unusual for us not to have a car there. Everyone is alright, that's the main thing. This is just damage."

Darren added: "We're just frustrated. I've had to take a day off work now to deal with all the insurance and they're not coming out now until Friday and tomorrow. I haven't got a car now, I don't know what I'm going to do."

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