A TEENAGE grief-rider smashed into the front of a house at the end of a high speed police chase.

The car thief brought terror to the streets of Farnworth last night as he raced along residential streets and across a busy junction.

The stolen Hyundai Accent LSi eventually crashed through a garden and became embedded in the front of the house in Minerva Road.

Amazingly the injured 17-year-old driver climbed out of the wreckage but police who had been following in an unmarked car managed to stop him escaping.

Residents ran from their homes when they heard a thunderous crash but luckily householder, night-shift mill worker, Jusuf Tily, 43, was in bed when the car hit his home. He said: "The whole house started shaking and I thought an earthquake had knocked part of the house down.

"I went to the top of the stairs and could not believe it when I saw the car inside the house.

"It had come straight through the garden and the porch and was nearly touching the foot of the stairs. "I was very lucky because I was just about to get up and go downstairs when it happened."

Police told Mr Tily the car had been stolen in Blackpool. Police confirmed they followed the car after officers spotted it in Settle Street, Great Lever. As it drove off the police car started its siren and pursued the Hyundai towards Farnworth.

One woman dived in a garden for safety and witnesses say the Hyundai narrowly missed a taxi before speeding across Minerva Road and into Mr Tily's home.

Greenland Road is a notorious rat run and only last week barriers were taken down after a trial run.

Resident David McCarthy, 26, said: "It is incredible that the driver was the only one hurt. With the school across the road, the shop on the corner and the hospital nearby, the roads are always busy. There have been car chases along here before. It is just lucky that no cars were driving on Greenland Road at the time or on Miverva Road when he crossed the junction. He could have collided with a bus or anything."

Surveyors are due to check the boarded up semi today but Mr Tily said: "The house is structurally in a bad way and the whole front is badly shattered."

The driver was treated for minor injuries at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

Police said a 17-year-old -was due to be interviewed later today.

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