Stolen car just misses child's bedroom

File photo / NZ Herald

An airborne stolen car smashed through two fences, narrowly missing a bedroom where a child was sleeping, before landing in the front of another house.

The incident happened in the West Coast town of Cobden early on January 1. The driver, who ran from the scene, has still not been found.

The car was stolen from a party in Cobden and shortly afterwards skidded about 20m through an intersection, hit a bump on the road, got airborne and crashed through the fences, narrowly missing one house but smashing heavily into the front of the next house.

Barry Howard was watching TV when he heard a loud bang and thought his shed had been blown away in a strong gust of wind.

Instead he found a car, still idling, resting against the house next door, having cut a path through his front yard and two fences. The neighbours were away at the time.

The impact pushed the house out of alignment.

Mr Howard was horrified to see that the vehicle had passed within 1m his of 7-year-old daughter's bedroom.

Constable Scott Crook of Greymouth police said if the car had hit the bedroom it probably would have killed the sleeping child.

"We were very lucky this did not happen during the day - the children may have been playing in the yard, and the debris from the fence would have been missiles flying through the air."

Pieces of the fence were found on the roof of the house.

Police were on the scene within two minutes of the call and while a sniffer dog quickly got the scent of the driver, lost it nearby.

"We believe the driver sustained some sort of head injury and want to hear from anyone who may have information about the crash," Mr Crook said.

He hoped that "someone with a conscience" would come forward.

"A child could have been killed."

Police believed both speed and alcohol contributed to the crash.