An elderly woman had a lucky escape after a minibus ploughed into her dining room wall.

Sheila Hillier, 86, was sitting in the front room of her Sheerness home contemplating making a cup of tea when she heard a loud bang.

It was only when she went outside to investigate that she discovered a white van embedded in the side of her house.

It is not the first time the property in Berridge Road has been hit.

About 40 years ago, a car came through the front corner of the house while Sheila's late mother Dorothia was sitting in an armchair just feet away.

The latest incident happened after the minibus was in a crash with what is believed to have been a silver Citroen at the junction with Winstanley Road.

Widow Mrs Hillier said: "I had just had my nap and I was thinking 'shall I make a cup of tea?' when there was this huge bang. When I saw it had come into the dining room I couldn't believe it. I was quite calm considering.

"People were looking in through the hole at first, so plastic sacks and wheelie bins were used to block it off."

A surveyor from Swale council inspected the building and declared it safe before arranging for the gap to be boarded up.

The great-grandmother added: "One of the builders joked I should serve burgers through it and make some money."

Neighbour Stephanie Heaton, whose house shook from the impact, has now started a petition.

It calls on Kent County Council's highways department to improve the road conditions to slow the traffic down after a number of accidents in the area.

The 34-year-old mother-of-two said: "In the past two years it's got worse. Only the other week there was an accident with a motorbike and a car.

"If you live around here you know Winstanley and Berridge Road are crossroads. If you don't, it's not very clear.

"There are white lines to stop at, but they've almost rubbed off, and 'give way' signs but people just don't seem to see them."

Ms Heaton added: "How nobody got hurt this time I'll never know.

"We just don't want anyone to die, whether it be a motorist, a pedestrian or a homeowner, because it is busy along here."