Man's Attempt At De-Icing Hack Backfires As Car Crashes Into House

Daniel Johnston, 19, had turned his engine on so the heated windscreen would make short work of the frost but he was left in a ‘blind panic’ after it lurched backwards and crunched right into his neighbour’s garage door, causing £750 worth of damage.

CCTV footage caught the moment poor Daniel desperately attempted to grab the wheel to prevent the car from hitting neighbour Nick Langstaff’s garage - but his actions were in vain, as the car finally came to a stop after hitting the door. 

Fortuentaly for Daniel, Nick wasn’t too upset with him and admitted he’d actually done the same thing himself a few years back. 

Daniel, from Bingham, Nottingham, said: "I got in late the night before, so I must have put the car in reverse and turned the car off straight after. It's usually always in neutral.

"The car was iced up so I was going to turn my engine on and then go to the boot to get the de-icer and obviously as soon as I turned the key it just reversed.

"My handbrake was up but not fully locked up. Usually if something happens you can push it out of gear, but I was too shocked to react and my hand stayed on my key.

"I grabbed my steering wheel but I didn't know what I was trying to do. It was just blind panic and it was early in the morning so I was tired.

"The car was two metres inside the garage and I just thought 'what have I done?'. The bang sounded like an explosion.

"I had to go and knock [on Nick's door] straight away, but when they answered they said 'don't worry we already know'.

"They were very understanding and calm about it, I was grateful for that, they're nice people.

"I knew I'd have to pay up. You have savings for a reason, I guess. I'm going to park on the roads because I don't need to be on the driveway.

"I never start my car [when I'm] outside and make sure it's in neutral. I keep moving the gear stick left to right, left to right."

Daniel's bumper was ripped off in the incident and he was left with a dent in the side of the car, but luckily he had the £400 worth of damage fixed at his work for £120.