A pensioner escaped with her life today after a stolen car ploughed into her kitchen wall - where she had been making breakfast just seconds before.

Shirley Lambert sat down in the lounge of her Kingswood bungalow to eat a sandwich when a Volkswagen Golf crashed into the side of her home.

The 68-year-old said the accident "sounded like an earthquake". She was left shaken but otherwise uninjured.

Witnesses told police they saw the car overtake a lorry on a roundabout before speeding down New Cheltenham Road at about 8.15am.

It narrowly missed oncoming traffic before skidding off the road, across a footpath and grass verge and smashing into Mrs Lambert's home.

Three teenagers in the car fled the scene after the crash, and ran off towards the former Falconride Primary School.

Now Mrs Lambert says she doesn't want to live in the bungalow anymore because she doesn't feel safe.

Mrs Lambert called the police and ambulance, and then called for her son to come over to help.

Mrs Lambert has only lived in the social housing property, run by Merlin Housing Society, for 11 months.

She is now going to stay with her son while her home is rebuilt.

She said: "I heard the car and the screeching of tyres, then a scrape and a big bang, and the whole house shook.

"I jumped out of my skin - it was terrible.

"My parrot, Freddie, fell of her perch, and I got up and went into the kitchen and saw it.

"If I had been in the kitchen I would have been on the floor.

"It could have been a lot worse and I could have had a heart attack or something.

"I am not coming back to live here. I don't feel very safe at the end of the row, and there are problems around here."

Her son, David Lambert, a cleaning supervisor from North Common, said: "I could have lost her today, and if someone was on that footpath they could have been killed.

"She had just come out of the kitchen and sat down in her chair in the living room, which is about five feet away from the kitchen door.

"Thirty seconds later the car crashed through the wall.

"If she had been in the kitchen she would have been badly injured or killed.

"The wall cupboards, fridge freezer and cooker have been pushed all the way across the room. She would have been crushed if she was in there when it happened."

Mr Lambert, 42, said: "Mum was crying and shaking when I arrived. The ambulance crew checked her over and said we needed to take her to the doctor for him to check her, but she is ok. She is a tough woman.

"The police told me three or four youngsters had been skidding and braking hard down the hill, and decided that mum's was the bungalow to crash into. Then they ran off.

"The problem is they are going to kill somebody else before they kill themselves.

"We have had all sorts of problems with teenagers around here, but nothing gets done."

The crash left a hole in the kitchen wall, large cracks down the walls and across the ceiling, and the kitchen in tatters and full of rubble.

Martin Daymond, works manager for Merlin, said staff had been at the scene immediately and had arranged for a structural engineer to assess the damage to the property.

He said: "Our priority is to make sure that the property is safe and secure. Once that has been done we will liaise with housing services to see what needs to be done for Mrs Lambert."

Christopher Smith, Merlin's director of housing and support, said: "The damage to Mrs Lambert's property is extensive and we won't have an estimate of how long it will take to repair until we get a full structural survey.

"Our housing team is working to find alternative accommodation for Mrs Lambert should she wish to take it.

"As her home is on one of our sheltered schemes, we need to find her a place where her support needs can be met."

Police said three teenagers, aged 15 or 16 and wearing dark hooded tops, fled after the crash, which happened at the junction of Alma Road and New Cheltenham Road.

They are now appealing for information.

If anyone witnessed the incident or knows who was involved they should call Staple Hill police station on 0845 456 7000.