A mother told of her terror as she and her young son watched a car crash into her back garden yards from their kitchen.

Ben Pollitt, aged three, was in his highchair when the vehicle plunged off a car park and landed just outside a window.

Mum Amanda Pollitt, of Sherwood Close, Tottington, says Ben could have been killed in the accident on Friday morning. She was in the kitchen at 8.30am when she saw a black Audi coming towards them.

She said: “I just screamed and grabbed the whole highchair and flung Ben out of the way. I was hysterical, I thought it was going to crush him.

Mrs Pollitt’s two-year-old niece Millie was also in the house at the time.

“If the children had been playing in the garden they almost certainly would have been dead,” she added.

Mrs Pollitt, aged 35, said it had been “an accident waiting to happen” and is now asking for the car park to be made safer.

The car had veered off the Tottington traders’ free car park behind Sherwood Close.

It is believed the driver had gone into a shop in Market Street and not engaged the handbrake properly, leaving his 15-year-old son in the car.

Mrs Pollitt explained: “The car park slopes towards our house and as the car moved it picked up speed quickly. The boy must have jumped out of the car as it was rolling.

“I have spoken to the driver and he’s really upset about it. His son could have been hurt too if he had still been in the car, it’s a very steep slope.”

The car park was established by local businesses in December 2006 after the Robin Hood pub, off Market Street, introduced a pay-and-display scheme.

A Save Our Village campaign was launched and traders donated £7,000 to create free parking on the land, which is owned by residents of Sherwood Close.

Mrs Pollitt added: “We didn’t want it there because it’s not safe; similar accidents have happened here before. A tiny wooden barrier was put up but it’s not good enough.”

Councillor Yvonne Wright, who led the campaign, said traders were making enquiries into erecting steel fencing at the car park.

She added: “I was shocked and very sorry to hear about the accident and I am glad that no one was hurt.”

bn200922191, bn200922190 Amanda Pollitt with her son Ben, aged three, after a black Audi ploughed into her back garden in Tottington.

bn200922186, bn2009922187, bn200922188, bn200922189 A black Audi ploughed into a back garden in Tottington.