AN elderly man had a narrow escape when an out-of-control car slammed into his front room.

Keith Viner, 89, had just moved to the back of the room when a grey Renault Clio veered off the road.

It hit the 19th century house, in Pearsons Green Road, Brenchley, dislodging chunks of masonry and causing a large plate-glass mirror to shatter on the desk where he normally works.

"The mirror fell where I sat.

"It would have killed me," he said.

Mr Viner, a retired Lloyds broker who served in the RAF during the war, said he had not experienced a shock as severe as that.

"I was a pilot, so I know what noise is like, but I have never heard anything like that before," he said.

"I was in a bit of a state and it took me a while to dial 999," said Mr Viner. "I've had a few bangs in my time, but that shook me rigid."

Mr Viner and his wife Anne, 82, said two young men "scarpered" from the car, which had French number plates, and were picked up by a second vehicle.

A spokesman for Kent Police said: "A structural engineer was called to assess the damage to the house and the car was recovered by police.

"Further inquiries are being made by officers about the incident."

Support jacks were installed to hold up the ceiling of the house, a converted barn of brick and timber dating from the 1870s, until permanent repairs could be carried out.

Mr Viner said he had nothing but praise for the police and members of the borough council, who arrived shortly after the incident took place.

"I have a large family – eight children and 17 grandchildren – and they have been a big comfort to us," he said.