A couple were shaken from their sleep by an almighty bang they assumed was a gas explosion.
And as Michael Miller started to make his way downstairs, he could smell gas - but what he couldn't yet see was the car parked nose-first in the kitchen of his house in Resolven, near Neath in south Wales.
He shouted to his wife Julie to go back upstairs, and the couple made their way outside by climbing through the back window.
It was only then that they saw the back wheels of the silver Toyota Celica - almost the only part of the car that was visible from the road.
Inside the end-of-terrace house were scenes of total devastation, and an engineer who inspected the damage said that part of the house may have to be demolished.
Mrs Miller told BBC Wales that the incident could easily have ended in tragedy.
"I'm just glad we got out of the house because we could have been dead," she said.
"If it had been an hour later, I would have been standing in that kitchen making tea."
Despite the impact, the driver was not hurt in the accident and fled the scene.
However, police later arrested a 24-year-old man on suspicion of drink-driving.
